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BEHIND THE SCENES 
IN THE REICHSTAG 



SIXTEEN YEARS OF PARLIAMENTARY 
LIFE IN GERMANY 



BY THE 

ABBE E. WETTERLE 

EX-DEPUTY AT THE REICHSTAG AND IN THE ALSACE-LORRAINE CHAMBER 



WITH A PREFATORY LETTER BY 

RENE DOUMIC 

MEMBER OF THE FRENCH ACADEMY 



TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY 

GEORGE FREDERIC LEES 

OFFICIER DE L* INSTRUCTION PUBLIQUE 



NEW YORK 
GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY 



Copyright, 1918, 
By George H. Doran Company 



JUN 21 iyi8 



Printed in the United States of America 



9 d 50 






A PREFATORY LETTER 

Dear Abbe Wetterle, — 

It is a pleasure to me to have the opportunity 
of saying what all of us in France think of you, 
why we love and admire you, and what a place 
all that your name personifies occupies in our 
hearts. 

Do you recollect one of the first lectures which, 
at the beginning of the war, you delivered in 
Paris? The Societe des Conferences had invited 
you to speak on the subject of the dear provinces 
towards which all our hopes are directed. When, 
well before the hour, I went to our hall on the 
Boulevard Saint-Germain, I found the approaches 
obstructed by a compact crowd, which desired at 
all hazards to enter the overcrowded building. It 
became necessary to promise this disappointed but 
obstinate audience aiat you would deliver your 
lecture a second time. You might have reap- 
peared thrice, nay ten times before our honest 
and responsive Parisian public. It would not have 
grown tired of coming to hear you, and I say 
not only to applaud you, but to drink in your 



vi A PREFATORY LETTER 

words. Those were magnificent gatherings, pene- 
trated by a sacred thrill. 

What you represent in our eyes is the fidelity of 
Alsace-Lorraine. To whatever trials that stub- 
born fidelity has been submitted, it has never 
flinched. Even when France seemed to be ab- 
sorbed in sad interior quarrels and to follow up 
with less impatience the imprescriptible claim, 
you persevered your faith intact. Not for a 
moment was your thought turned from us. And 
that thought has been your whole thought — the 
thought which has inspired your whole life — your 
unique thought. 

And what you also represent is the determina- 
tion to become French once more, you who in 
your conscience have never ceased to be French, 
among the best French of France. For you did 
not confine yourself to platonic protests, you did 
not content yourself with the vagueness of touch- 
ing regrets and hopes. Vain home-sickness is not 
the thing for you. To will, is really to employ 
all the means which lead to a given end ; and under 
the most oppressive yoke, face to face with the 
most inventive tyranny, you have never let slip 
an opportunity, you have never neglected a means 
of hastening the liberating end. 

Fidelity and determination make up the whole 
of you. One has only to look at you. Thick-set, 



A PREFATORY LETTER vii 

strong in the back, square-shouldered and round- 
headed, you are strength itself. You were cut 
out for strife, and in the midst of strife you are 
in your element. You have striven for the com- 
mon cause. You have suffered. You have braved 
persecution and undergone imprisonment. Your 
prestige is the result of that, and thence, too, 
comes your authority. To speak and to write 
is in your case to act. It is much the fashion now- 
adays to extol action, in words. And from the 
way in which some people celebrate it, I cannot 
help thinking of those comic-opera singers who 
interminably repeat "Let us be off! Let us be 
off!" whilst stamping about on the stage. What 
they call action is mere talk about action. You, 
on the other hand, are not a maker of phrases; 
deeds alone are to your fancy. Beneath each word 
you utter there is a reality; every one carries, 
every one is a shot. 

You write in the same manner. You have 
written thousands of articles. There is not one 
of them which was written with the mere object 
of producing an article to occupy or amuse the 
gallery. No. Every one — precise and direct — 
was aimed at an immediate object. That was a 
part of your action. Since the beginning of the 
war you have published several books, but there 



viii A PREFATORY LETTER 

is not one of them which was not evolved from an 
idea bearing within it an active virtue. 

Thus it is in the case of the present volume. 

The idea which has guided you, around which 
your recollections — illustrated by your narrative 
— have crystallised, is as follows. 

As a member of the Reichstag, you have seen 
German politicians close at hand. You know 
what you are to believe about them. You have 
been present at their debates and have seen them, 
as in all Parliaments, divide themselves into 
parties. As Conservatives, Socialists, or members 
of the Catholic Centre, you have observed them 
following different conceptions. Only, what you 
have also seen — seen with your own eyes — is that 
there was always, in any and every case, a point 
at which all divisions ceased as though by magic, 
a ground on which all could meet, an object to 
which all strained in common. The feeling with 
which all were in accord was their hatred of 
France. The object towards which all strained 
was the destruction of France. The thought in 
which all collaborated was the preparation of war 
against France. 

During forty-four years they combined, ar- 
ranged, strengthened, perfected the formidable 
machine which was to be directed against us. And 
we, during that time, continually and stubbornly 



A PREFATORY LETTER « 

closed our eyes and stopped our ears, unwilling 
to see or understand anything. We worked un- 
interruptedly — in that case only, alas! uninter- 
ruptedly — to weaken ourselves. We complacently 
welcomed, forbearingly diffused everything which 
disarms a nation and betrays it to the enemy. . . . 
Such is the painful parallel which the mind evokes 
when one reads your well-informed pages. . . . 
War broke out at the hour the Germans had 
chosen. So it was necessary, in the magnificent 
reawakening of the race, that French heroism 
should rebuild, but at the price of what a sacrifice ! 
all that our improvident leaders had criminally 
undone. 

Thus your book teaches a lesson — a lesson for 
the present and the future. For you have not 
written these recollections merely with the object 
of reviving a dolorous past, nor in order to re- 
criminate against our faults of yesterday. You 
would bar, in advance, the road to fresh errors, 
guard against fresh weakness. What Germany 
was before the war she is during and will remain 
after the war. Nothing will turn her from her 
object, which is to destroy us. She is aiming at 
it to-day on the battlefield; to-morrow it will be 
in the economic arena. By violence or perfidy, one 
after the other or both together brutal and cun- 
ning, she strains towards the same end, which is 



x A PREFATORY LETTER 

her end in war and in peace. It is for us to know 
this, and not to allow ourselves to be duped a 
second time. Voices that one could have hoped to 
have been better inspired have already hazarded 
the advice that the German people be allowed their 
free development. The free development of the 
people of Germany . . . you know — you who 
have been "Behind the Scenes in the Reichstag" 
— what that means : the enslavement of the French 
nation. 

So thanks, dear Abbe Wetterle, for the assist- 
ance you bring us, at the tragic hour at which your 
book appears, and when all our energy ought to 
be directed to the work of national defence. May 
your words be the warning heard by all, the cry 
of alarm which makes known the danger, the 
sursum corda which exalts our courage and pre- 
pares it for supreme heroism. 

Rene Doumic. 



FOREWORD 

"Cannot you give us some recollections of your 
parliamentary life?" 

How many times I have been asked this ques- 
tion by editors of papers and reviews! 

I have always hesitated to respond to these 
pressing requests, first because these excursions 
into the past, before the outbreak of war, can have 
but slight interest, and secondly because, being 
deprived of my notes, forgotten at Colmar or 
deposited in a safe place in a neutral country, I 
am obliged to rely wholly on my memory, which 
often fails me. 

All that happened before the war is already so 
far away from us. In recalling these reminis- 
cences of a still near past, it seems as though one 
were turning over the pages of an old conjuring- 
book. And yet the whole tragedy of to-day was 
in being in the events before 1914, and the more I 
reflect on what I observed and heard, both at 
Berlin and at Strassburg, the more I confess to 
myself that we were, with a few exceptions, 
stricken with blindness in not seeing the big thun- 
der clouds gathering on the horizon. 



xii FOREWORD 

That is the reason why, overcoming my fear of 
being very incomplete, I have decided to set down, 
in a desultory manner, whatever events in my po- 
litical past seem to me to present retrospective 
interest. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. How I Entered Politics 1 

II. Arrival at Berlin 24 

III. The Parties of the Reichstag ... 46 

IV. Pen Portraits of Parliamentarians . . 73 
V. Foreign Politics 98 

VI. Pan-Germanism 112 

VII. Militarism in German Politics . . . 139 

VIII. The Emperor and Parliament .... 155 

IX. The Growth of Imperialism .... 178 

X. My Defence of Alsace-Lorraine . . . 202 

XI. War Aims Foreshadowed 226 

XII. Some Prussian Types 236 



BEHIND THE SCENES IN 
THE REICHSTAG 



BEHIND THE SCENES IN 
THE REICHSTAG 

CHAPTER I 

How I Entered Politics 

My Election — The Centre and the Members for Alsace- 
Lorraine — Denounced at Rome — Bishop and Chancel- 
lor — My Lawsuits — Two Months' Imprisonment — An 
Instance of German Blackguardism — The Bird had 
Flown. 

It was in 1898 that the electors of the arrondisse- 
ment of Ribeauville offered me the candidature 
for a seat in the Reichstag. The Abbe Simonis, 
who, since 1874, had represented the fifth con- 
stituency of Alsace-Lorraine with so much joyous 
energy, had just retired from public life, at the 
same time as his colleague, Canon Guerber, who 
until then had carried out the mandate of the 
arrondissement of Guebwiller. This excellent M. 
Simonis had been condemned, a few months be- 
fore, to pay a fine of 600 marks because, at a public 

meeting at which he had contested the candidature 

l 



2 BEHIND THE SCENES 

of Kreisdirektor Poehlmann, he allowed himself 
to quote the Alsatian proverb — "A man, a 
promise, or else a 'What do I care?' individual." 

This misadventure — rather honourable than 
otherwise — had deeply grieved a man whose ante- 
cedents had been spotless until then. 

But M. Simonis had a more serious reason for 
leaving the arena of public life. He belonged to 
the generation of early protestors who considered 
that they had carried out all the obligations of 
their mandate by going to Berlin merely twice or 
thrice a year to make heard there the voice of 
Alsace-Lorraine, inconsolable through having 
been separated from France. Now, it happened 
that our two provinces, forcibly associated with 
the destiny of the German Empire, sometimes 
suffered cruelly from an interior legislation in the 
elaboration of which their representatives system- 
atically refused to collaborate. Therefore the 
electors had finished, not by getting tired of pro- 
testing, but by requesting their deputies to take a 
more active part in the work of the Imperial 
Parliament. M. Guerber and M. Simonis, how- 
ever, would not consent to modify their purely 
negative attitude, so an appeal had to be made 
to new men. 

The candidatures in the vacant constituencies 
were offered to several laymen — manufacturers, 



IN THE REICHSTAG 3 

doctors, and lawyers, all of whom, in spite of 
earnest requests, politely refused. Thus, a week 
before the day fixed for the elections, I was begged 
to accept the struggle, whilst Canon Roellinger, 
Cure of Gueb wilier, was putting up for M. Guer- 
ber's seat. 

Truth to tell, there was more danger than profit 
in entering public life at the time of the dictator- 
ship and the regime of passports. Terror had 
reigned in Alsace since 1888, and, though the elec- 
tion of Jacques Preiss at Colmar in 1891 and that 
of Ignace Spiess at Schlestadt in 1896 denoted an 
awakening of public opinion, the reprisals which 
had immediately been made by the Secretary of 
State, von Puttkamer, seemed to foreshadow fresh 
acts of persecution against both the elected candi- 
dates and their electors. 

Owing to the very short time at our disposal, 
it was necessary to improvise manifestos, posters, 
distributions of bulletins and public meetings. It 
was a week of excitement. Fortunately, our elec- 
tors were most determined. Roellinger and I were 
elected at the first ballot with respectable ma- 
jorities, although we had three opponents: a Gov- 
ernmental Catholic, a Liberal, and a Socialist. 

Out of the fifteen seats of the annexed prov- 
inces, the Alsace-Lorraine group, which had 



4 BEHIND THE SCENES 

accepted the heritage of the protestors, secured 
eleven, whilst the Socialists won three and the 
Germans had tc be satisfied with a single semi- 
success at Saverne. In fact, Dr. Hoeffel, who 
represented the little town of the Lower Rhine, 
which was later made illustrious by Lieutenant 
von Forstner and Colonel von Reutter, got him- 
self received at the Reichstag as a guest 
(Hospitant) in the fraction of the Independent 
Conservatives (Reichspartei) , among whom, 
moreover, he played a very obscure part. 

Already at that time the immigrants and the 
Government had but one object — that of forcing 
the Deputies of Alsace-Lorraine to join the 
groups of the Imperial Parliament. For having 
responded to that earnest request during the pre- 
ceding legislatures, MM. Petri and von Bulach 
had lost their seats. However, the Socialists, who 
relegated national claims to the background in 
favour of political questions, were not restrained 
by the same scruples, and their representatives, 
from Hickel to Bueb, had deliberately joined the 
Parliamentary group of the Extreme Left, which 
from that time gave them the support of the Ger- 
mans. 

In the meantime the immigrants had tried to 
penetrate all the political organizations of Alsace- 
Lorraine, in order to precipitate the evolution de- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 5 

sired by the Ministry of Strassburg. In 1891 I 
had written on that subject a pamphlet, entitled, 
"Irons-nous au Centre?" ("Shall we Join the 
Centre?") , which caused rather a stir, and in which 
I combated any union whatsoever with the Catho- 
lic party of the Reichstag, because that union 
would have indicated to everyone the renunciation 
of our national claims, and would have prevented 
us presenting and defending our private resolu- 
tions in Parliament. 

During the following twenty-three years I had 
to combat, both in my newspaper and at our 
meetings of delegates, the ever-recurring idea of 
rallying to the Centre. Several times my adver- 
saries, headed by the German professor Martin 
Spahn and the Alsatians Muller and Didio, 
demanded my expulsion from the party. They 
never succeeded in obtaining anything save de- 
risive minorities for their motions, whether frank 
or hypocritical ones. 

But these recollections necessitate going back. 
My pamphlet "Irons-nous au Centre?" brought 
me numerous and enthusiastic letters of encour- 
agement, like the one which followed it closely — 
"Parti catholique et Coteries" ("The Catholic 
Party and Coteries"). It was doubtless owing to 
this circumstance that, in December, 1893, I was 
entrusted by M. Jung, the printer, with the man- 



6 BEHIND THE SCENES 

agement of the Journal de Colmar, a bi-weekly 
journal printed entirely in the French language. 

Before leaving the parochial ministry (at that 
time I was curate in the artisan parish of St. 
Joseph at Mulhausen, a parish justly celebrated 
for its numerous and prosperous social works) I 
called on the Bishop of Strassburg, Mgr. Fritzen, 
who still occupies the see of St. Arbogast. And 
this is what the prelate, whose two brothers were 
then members of the Reichstag, said to me : 

"I am aware that the politics which you will 
uphold in your paper are not mine; but I do not 
think I have the right to forbid you to defend 
the interests of the population in your own man- 
ner. In ecclesiastical matters you will obviously 
remain subject to my control. As to the rest, 
write whatever you judge fit. It is not for me, 
as a bishop, to meddle with politics properly so 
called." 

I asked him for nothing more. Let me add that 
Mgr. Fritzen kept strictly to this line of conduct 
and never attempted to give me the least 
imperative advice. It sometimes happened that I 
discussed with him, with absolute freedom, prob- 
lems of public life ; yet he carefully refrained from 
exercising the slightest pressure on me. Better 
still, on several occasions, and without my knowl- 
edge, he undertook to defend me. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 7 

Here is the proof. In 1897, at Colmar, I had 
been elected a County Councillor, and at the first 
meeting of the Council I had to take the oath 
required by the law, "I swear obedience to the 
Constitution and fidelity to the Emperor." 

This question of the taking of the political oath 
had been raised immediately after the annexation 
in 1873, on the occasion of the County Council 
elections. The first councillors to be elected hav- 
ing refused to take the oath, the prefects sus- 
pended the sitting. Gambetta, consulted by the 
interested parties, very wisely replied, "Compul- 
sion does not stand in the way of the exercise of 
liberty. If you do not take verbally an oath which 
your heart disavows, all the seats will pass to 
creatures of the German Government. So observe 
this simple formality, which does not necessitate 
the slightest renunciation of your regrets and your 
hopes." 

The advice was followed. Nevertheless, it was 
always horribly painful to pronounce the fatal 
formula. The day after I had been obliged to 
undergo this hard necessity, I published in my 
paper an article of which the following is a sum- 
mary: "The political oath, because one is obliged 
to take it, does not admit of the obligation of 
conscience. Moreover, though I have indeed 
promised obedience to the Constitution, it is with 



8 BEHIND THE SCENES 

the firm desire to modify it. Finally, the promise 
of fidelity to the Emperor ought not to prevent 
a Republican (and I have always been one) from 
trying to change the regime, provided that in at- 
tempting to do so he does not depart from legal 
methods." 

The article produced a scandal. The Govern- 
mental Press left no stone unturned in attacking 
the priest who had dared to contest the holiness of 
the oath. Now, a few weeks later, the Bishop of 
Strassburg addressed to me a letter in which he 
announced that the Pope, Leo XIII, sent me, 
through his mediation, "his whole-hearted bene- 
diction." As no explanation accompanied this 
missive, I called on Mgr. Fritzen to ask him for 
enlightenment. 

"I did not want," replied the prelate, smiling, 
"to tell you sooner of the plot hatched against 
you. After your article on the political oath, the 
Statthalter (Prince von Hohenlohe-Langenburg) 
sent to the Holy See, through the intermediary 
of the Prussian representative, a long memoran- 
dum, or, to speak more accurately, a virulent in- 
dictment. The Pope sent me the papers. I under- 
took your defence. Here are both the Prince's 
speech for the prosecution and mine for the de- 
fence. As you see, Rome says 'we' are in the 
right." 



IN THE REICHSTAG 9 

Indeed, the two documents — copies of which I 
have preserved — establish both the incommensur- 
able stupidity of the Statthalter and the perfect 
correctness of the bishop, who, without even 
informing me, had protected me by his high 
authority. 

A second denunciation from Prince von Hohen- 
lohe met with the same fate the year after. 

An amusing detail. When, eight years later, in 
1905, 1 had the honour to be presented to Cardinal 
Rampolla, he welcomed me with the following 
words : 

"Well, are you satisfied with the reply we 
formerly sent your Staathalter?" 

The great friend of France, who was and who 
remained a Cardinal to the end, was once more to 
be recognised in this joyous exclamation. One 
had only to see the mischievous smile with which 
he emphasised it to be able to guess that the former 
Secretary of State to Leo XIII had been glad to 
be in a position to play a good trick on our pro- 
fessional Germanisers. 

Mgr. Fritzen had once more to take up my de- 
fence in the spring of 1914, and under particularly 
difficult circumstances. My lecturing campaign 
in France, in the month of January of the preced- 
ing year, had provoked in the whole of the German 
Press the most violent protests and caused a tor- 



10 BEHIND THE SCENES 

rent of shameful insults to descend on my head. 
For several weeks each post brought me a dozen 
letters or post-cards on which the Bodies, be- 
longing to all classes of society, exhausted 
themselves by expressing insulting words and 
ridiculous threats. Moreover, the Leipzig court 
had been requested to charge me with high treason, 
and questions had been asked regarding my case 
in the two Parliaments of Berlin and Strassburg. 
During the whole session I was boycotted by the 
majority of my colleagues. On the other hand, 
my electoral committee and the meeting of the 
Alsace-Lorraine Centre deliberately refused to 
separate themselves from me. 

The storm had already partly subsided when, 
in February, 1914, I called on the Bishop of 
Strassburg. 

"You come in the nick of time," he declared. 
"It is barely a week ago since the Imperial Chan- 
cellor, Von Bethmann-Hollweg, sitting in the very 
chair you occupy, earnestly entreated me to take 
the most severe disciplinary measures against you. 
I replied to him (and you will not be surprised 
at this) that I deplored your political attitude, 
but that I was not in a position to censor it. You 
misemploy, perhaps, your liberty as a citizen, but, 
as a priest, I have nothing to reproach you with. 
Under these conditions, I should make an ill use 



IN THE REICHSTAG 11 

of my ecclesiastical authority by exercising it in a 
matter in which all Catholics retain their entire 
independence." 

A last time Mgr. Fritzen had to devote his at- 
tention to me; and again he acted with all the 
circumspection the situation demanded. It was in 
the early days of the month of September, 1914. 
I had just published in the Echo de Paris several 
articles signed "An ex-Member of the Reichstag." 
The German Press naturally made use of the most 
violent language against the "traitor." The mili- 
tary authorities demanded of the Bishop of Strass- 
burg that he proceed to execute me in due form. 
So Mgr. Fritzen published in the Catholic jour- 
nals of Alsace a letter in which he deplored my 
attitude, "which was contrary to my oath" (see 
above ) , and announced that he . . . removed me 
from the list of Alsatian priests in the ordo of his 
diocese. 

Need I add that this last measure is inoperative? 
A priest can only be detached from his diocese as 
the result of a canonical trial. The lists of the 
ordo have merely a documentary value. They 
have no legal value. The Bishop of Strassburg, 
therefore, got out of a difficulty by a veritable 
practical joke. 

The Bishop of Metz, Mgr. Bentzler, had to 
take a similar measure against Canon Collin. It 



12 BEHIND THE SCENES 

is true that he added the following words to his 
public letter, "I am opening a canonical legal in- 
quiry against M. Collin. But as circumstances do 
not permit me to serve him with the indictment, 
I am under the necessity of postponing the pro- 
ceedings sine die." As in all probability it will be 
the future Bishop of Metz, Mgr. Collin, who will 
conduct the case against Canon Collin, there is 
every reason to believe that the sentence will not 
be too severe. 

However that may be, Mgr. Bentzler proved 
himself on this occasion to be as witty as Mgr. 
Fritzen. I should never have believed two Ger- 
mans capable of such humorous fancies. 

When I took over the management of the 
Journal de Colmar it had 400 subscribers. Four 
week later there were 3,500. I attribute this 
success partly to the intervention of the Procura- 
tor of the Correctional Tribunal, Herr Bemays, 
who brought a sensational action against me. In 
the early days of January, 1894, I had published 
an article containing the following phrase, "The 
plan for the canalisation of the Hardt is lying 
about wretchedly in the portfolios of the Minis- 
try." The Public Prosecutor saw in these words 
an insult to Herr von Puttkamer and opened 
proceedings. The sitting was epic. The Public 
Prosecutor began his speech for the prosecution 



IN THE REICHSTAG 13 

with these words, "Wetterle's journal is frivolous, 
it violates all the rules of propriety, and it has 
assumed the mission of exciting hatred between the 
people and the notable men of the town, the 
Government and the persons under its jurisdic- 
tion, the natives and the German immigrants." 
He spoke for two full hours in this amiable 
manner and ended by demanding a sentence of 
four months' imprisonment. Preiss defended me. 
He was superb in his rejoinder. The trial ended 
in an acquittal. During the sitting the court was 
crowded to overflowing. The next day subscrip- 
tions began to flow in. My paper was launched. 

However, I had not always the same success 
before the courts. My judicial record is very bad: 
twelve fines, ranging from 40 to 600 marks, plus 
two months' imprisonment. 

One of these lawsuits was extremely funny. In 
the course of a controversy with a brother- jour- 
nalist of Colmar I had written: "L,e journal X 
. . . petarade et rue dans les brancards." Al- 
though the metaphor was not applied to a person, 
the manager of the paper in question thought fit 
to bring an action against me. To the huge 
delight of the judges, counsel for the plaintiff 
devoted his attention to the most improper jests 
around the word "petarade." I pointed out to him 
that Saint- Simon had written, "The Princesses 



14 BEHIND THE SCENES 

descended to the garden and indulged in all man- 
ner of pctarades" ; and that one could not honestly 
admit that the celebrated author of the Memoires 
intended to accuse those young and lively persons 
of improprieties. But this did not help me in the 
least. I was condemned to pay a fine of 100 
francs, and one of the grounds of the judgment 
solemnly set forth that, in the opinion of all gram- 
marians, petarade is equivalent to "une salve de 
p . . ." This lesson in French was well worth the 
fee I had to pay for it. 

Every time that I appeared at the bar the same 
difficulties of translation occurred. Public prose- 
cutors and judges grew pale over dictionaries in 
order to prove me guilty of the blackest designs. 
My counsel in turn were obliged to consult the 
most learned lexicons to establish my innocence. 
These philological discussions amused the gallery 
immensely. 

I do not glory in my convictions. Nevertheless, 
I am bound to point out that in the text of all the 
judgments against me there was always the fol- 
lowing clause, "Die antideutschen Gesinnungen 
des Angeklagten sind gerichtsbekannt" ("The 
anti-German sentiments of the accused are no- 
torious"). This got me an increased penalty each 
time. The judicial authorities, moreover, never 
failed to extend the discussion to articles which 



IN THE REICHSTAG 15 

were not incriminated. All the actions brought 
against me were for constructive offences. 

Honest Hosemann, a Public Prosecutor whose 
candour was proverbial, said to me one day, "We 
guess your intentions; but you always know how 
to graze the dangerous line without overstepping 
it. But take care, for at the first false step we 
shall not fail to catch you." 

I was to make that false step in 1909. The 
director of the Lycee of Colmar, Gneisse, a pas- 
sionate pan-Germanist pedagogue, had published 
in the Strassburger Post an article in which he 
extolled the foundation of a league against the 
"Frenchifying" of Alsace-Lorraine. Gneisse was 
the most grotesque personage one can imagine. 
Hansi has immortalised him in several of his cele- 
brated caricatures. A controversy sprang up 
between the pedant and myself. Gneisse was 
brutal; I replied to him jestingly. One of my 
articles I adorned with a portrait of my adversary, 
drawn by Hansi's masterly hand. Now, it hap- 
pened that one day a young collegian, the son of 
one of my friends, came to see me at my office. 
Gneisse's portrait was lying on my desk. The 
boy asked me for it in order to give it to his 
father. He was, however, rather imprudent in 
showing it to a few of his fellow pupils. 

For once they had me. Gneisse demanded a 



16 BEHIND THE SCENES 

prosecution. The Secretary of State tried to 
make the pedant understand that he was about 
to cover himself with immortal ridicule. But in 
vain. The Public Prosecutor's office had to inter- 
vene. Nobody can imagine what that trial was. 
My counsel Preiss and Blumenthal, riddled the 
director with epigrams. It was pitiful to look at 
the wretched man whilst he strove, with the most 
imperturbable seriousness, to ward off the shafts 
of the defence. The president had several times 
to threaten to clear the court, so noisily did the 
public which had crowded there give vent to its 
amusement. 

The case came on twice. Hansi had been con- 
demned in July to pay a fine of 600 marks. As I 
was, in that month, protected by my Parliamen- 
tary immunity, they could not bring me to trial 
until the recess of the two Chambers in September. 
So Gneisse was obliged to submit twice to those 
painful sittings. 

Nevertheless, the court sentenced me to two 
months' imprisonment and refused my application 
for a cross-action. The offence had been very 
insignificant, but the sentence appeared to every- 
one, even to the immigrants, to be very severe. 

The day after my condemnation the German 
officials entreated me to ask for a pardon. During 
three months, I was the object of the most earnest 



IN THE REICHSTAG 17 

solicitations on the part of the authorities — and 
even the members of the Ministry — who feared the 
effects of any condemnation on public opinion. 
To put an end to them, I gave myself up as a 
prisoner on December 15th, at Colmar. 

A few days before I had had an interview with 
Herr Petri, the Under-Secretary of State at the 
Ministry of Justice, and had asked him, as a 
matter of curiosity, if I should be allowed to read 
and write in prison. The next day the Govern- 
mental organs reported that, fearing the severi- 
ties of the penitentiary regime, I had humbly 
solicited the Minister's kindness, Thus the Ger- 
mans always remain faithful to themselves. They 
are obliged to besmirch the reputation of their ad- 
versaries when they cannot subdue them. 

I immediately sent a letter to Herr Petri, 
declaring my firm intention to be treated as a 
common prisoner. At the Ministry they were very 
worried by this new prank. The Reichstag was 
sitting at the time and the Landesausschuss was 
about to meet. They feared that questions would 
be asked. 

On entering the prison, the governor had me 
immediately examined by a doctor. The inter- 
view was comic in the extreme. 

"You suffer from stomach troubles/' said Dr. 
Steinmetz to me, peremptorily. 



18 BEHIND THE SCENES 

"Not at all," I replied. "I'm as solid as the 
Pont-Neuf." 

"But look at that swelling at the bottom of your 
ribs." 

"I'm rather stout." 

"It's a certain sign of difficult digestion, arising 
from dilatation of the stomach. The restaurant 
keeper who usually supplies the prison will bring 
your meals. Moreover, manual work would de- 
press you. You will therefore be free to follow 
your habitual occupations. But as your stay here 
will be of short duration, it is needless to ask you 
to put on the usual prison dress." 

That very evening they brought me a second 
mattress again by doctor's orders. I was, in ad- 
dition, authorised to receive three newspapers 
regularly. 

The two months passed all the more rapidly 
because my lawyers and a few other friends came 
almost daily to bring me news of the outside 
world. It was thus that I heard that at Strass- 
burg, at the opening of Parliament, my colleagues 
had placed a magnificent bouquet on my seat, and 
that Gneisse had once more served as a Turk's 
head for speakers during the Budget debate. 

My term of imprisonment came to an end on 
February 15th, 1910, at 5.45. At four o'clock my 
warder came to tell me that a huge crowd was 



IN THE REICHSTAG 19 

assembling in front of the prison. When I came 
out five thousand people were there to cheer me. 
A little girl, dressed in white., presented me with 
a bouquet. A carriage was waiting for me, and 
by my side Hansi, my friend Bourson, and my 
colleague Haegy took their seats. During half 
an hour the horses had to proceed at walking-pace 
through a crowd which grew denser as we ap- 
proached the Rue Roesselmann, where I lived 
with my mother. At our flat, where every piece 
of furniture was covered with flowers, M. Rene 
Henry presented me with a superb statue of 
Jeanne d'Arc, on behalf of a group of French 
Deputies and journalists; whilst Hansi, in the 
name of a group of inhabitants of Colmar, handed 
me a bronze representing the patron saint of 
Alsace-Lorraine, St. Odile. The people of Strass- 
burg had sent a bust, "L'Alsacienne," by Ringel 
d'lllzach. 

The next day the entire Press of the country 
filled its columns with a narrative of this spon- 
taneous demonstration. The anger of the pan- 
Germans passed all bounds when, having gone to 
Paris a few days later, I received at my hotel a 
delegation of students of the Sorbonne, who came 
to present me with Larche's "Guerrier." 

My imprisonment had another and a much more 
appreciable result. The Journal de Colmar had 



20 BEHIND THE SCENES 

been a daily for several months past, but it still 
appeared in a small size. My friends gave me a 
great surprise by buying the machines necessary 
for transforming it into a sheet the size of Le 
Matin. So henceforth I had a more serious fight- 
ing organ at my disposal. On coming out of 
prison I changed the name of my journal, which 
became Le Nouvelliste d' Alsace-Lorraine. 

What the Government had feared had come 
to pass. My conviction had turned against my 
persecutors. 

Let me recall an incident a propos of this which 
made rather a stir. The wife of the Statthalter, 
Countess Wedel, a most amiable Swedish lady 
who had always striven to establish cordial re- 
lations between her husband and the Members of 
Parliament, used to give every year a soiree, 
at which she distributed, in the form of objets de 
cotillon, little souvenirs to her guests. Those who 
were unable to be present at this evening party 
received these little presents by post. Now, the 
Countess thought fit to send me in that way, whilst 
I was in prison, a silver match-box bearing her 
monogram. The gift was accompanied by a very 
friendly letter, in French, containing the following 
words, "If you would feel transitory satisfaction, 
take revenge; but if a durable satisfaction, par- 
don." Now, one of my lawyers, having come to 



IN THE REICHSTAG 21 

visit me in prison, saw the Countess's souvenir 
and read her letter. He committed the impru- 
dence of whispering a word about it to a German 
colleague, whom he thought was an honest man. 
This fellow, however, could think of nothing 
better than to send a fiery article to a pan-German 
sheet, to protest against "this scandal." For sev- 
eral weeks Countess Wedel served as a target for 
the fury of all the scribbling patriots on the other 
side of the Rhine. It would have required very 
little more to make this stupid affair the cause 
of a Ministerial crisis. 

Of my journalistic life, which, however, was 
very fertile in little incidents, I will say but a few 
more words. I was taking my holidays in Switzer- 
land at the beginning of July, 1914, when I 
received from M. Helmer, Hansi's lawyer, a letter 
containing the following words, "Take care! The 
action against you for high treason is still pending. 
The French translator to the Leipzig court told 
me last week that he was instructed by the tribunal 
to translate into German the lectures which you 
delivered last year in France. You would do 
well, therefore, to put your papers in a safe place, 
if you have not already done so. At the close of 
the parliamentary session they will certainly make 
a domiciliary visit at your house." 

I returned to Colmar immediately. I am very 



22 BEHIND THE SCENES 

conservative by temperament. My correspon- 
dence for twenty years, which will enable me to 
reconstitute in part the political history of Alsace- 
Lorraine during that long and interesting period, 
was heaped up in a large box which at all cost 
had to be sheltered from German curiosity, for 
among the letters thus collected together there 
were enough to compromise a hundred of my 
friends. 

I had already been the Victim of a manifest 
theft on the part of a German employee at the 
printing-office of my paper, this man having ap- 
propriated the bag in which I kept the thousand to 
fifteen hundred letters I had received from Alsace- 
Lorraine and France on leaving prison. The 
odious fellow found, however, in this voluminous 
correspondence only one really interesting docu- 
ment, a visiting card bearing a few amiable 
words from Baron von Bulach. Needless to say, 
he hastened to communicate it to the pan-German 
organs, thus causing the greatest annoyance to 
the Secretary of State. 

On July 15th (note the date) I handed the box 
containing my letters to a friend, who undertook 
to send them abroad. Now, at the goods-office 
they asked him to inscribe on the way-bill the fol- 
lowing mention, "Unpolitischen Inhalts" ("The 
contents are not political.") Nothing can prove 



IN THE REICHSTAG 23 

more clearly that, already at that time, Germany 
foresaw approaching international complications. 
My friend, in ignorance of the contents of the box, 
filled up the form, and the package was able to 
cross the frontier before the opening of hostilities. 
When, on July 31st, the German authorities 
made a search at the offices of the NouvelUste and 
at my private residence, they found, therefore, 
that the bird had flown. I had prepared for them 
a single but rather disagreeable surprise. On my 
desk, placed well in view, was the correspondence 
which I had exchanged during preceding years 
with Baron von Bulach. I doubt whether, on 
reading it, they experienced an unmixed pleasure. 



24 BEHIND THE SCENES 



CHAPTER II 

Arrival at Berlin 

Ignaee Spiess — The Reichstag Palace — The Speech from 
the Throne — The Galas — Cook's Agency — How they 
Work at the Reichstag — Double Mandates — At Home. 

It was in November, 1898, that, accompanied 
by my newly elected colleagues of Alsace-Lor- 
raine, I went to Berlin for the first time. Com- 
munications were still difficult in those days. We 
took sixteen hours to cover the 800 kilometres 
which separated our provinces from the Prussian 
capital, and the carriages placed at our disposal 
were inconvenient and badly warmed. Besides, 
it was necessary to change trains at Frankfort. 

Berlin is a very ugly city. A few hours suffice 
to make a tour of inspection of its buildings, al- 
most all modern ones. The old part has no cachet. 
As to the new, it is built in that odious Munich 
style which will be the eternal disgrace of German 
architects. 

It was the excellent M. Spiess, member for 
Schlestadt, who did us the honours of Berlin. 
He had been elected two years before under cir- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 25 

cumstances which are worthy of being related. In 
1893, when "the peace of the cemeteries" — to use 
the energetic expression of Jacques Preiss — 
reigned in Alsace-Lorraine, the Kreisdirektor 
Poehlmann of Schlestadt had offered himself as 
a candidate in his own parliamentary division. 
Never had official pressure been displayed with 
so much impudence. The German Sub-Prefect 
had made use of Governmental subventions and 
secret funds with unprecedented audacity. One 
instance, taken from a hundred. In a certain 
commune where the parsonage was in a bad state 
of repair, the official candidate had, on his own 
authority, ordered that they should immediately 
proceed with repairs which before he had consid- 
ered inopportune. Not having obtained the ma- 
jority in the Commune, the Kreisdirektor had the 
work stopped immediately, and for several weeks 
the parsonage was without a roof. 

The election of the Sub-Prefect was contested. 
The Reichstag, which itself proceeds, with wise 
slowness, to examine the mandates, took three 
years to complete the inquiry. At last, in 1896, 
Poehlmann was invalidated. 

Meanwhile, M. Spiess, Mayor of Schlestadt, 
who was reproached with not having exerted him- 
self sufficiently on behalf of Poehlmann's candi- 
dature, had been removed by Secretary of State 



26 BEHIND THE SCENES 

von Puttkamer. This wholly unjustifiable meas- 
ure gave rise to stirring debates during the sit- 
tings of the Landesausschuss (the Alsace-Lor- 
raine Parliament) , of which M. Spiess was a mem- 
ber, and aroused violent reaction throughout the 
entire country. 

So the electors of Schlestadt offered their for- 
mer mayor the candidature of the vacant seat in 
the Reichstag. Never did an election give rise 
to struggles so Homeric. The agents of the Gov- 
ernment seized the Alsatian candidate's mani- 
festos, prohibited or disturbed his public meet- 
ings, terrified the population in the villages, and 
took down innumerable names and addresses with 
a view to prosecutions. Nevertheless, M. Spiess 
scored a signal victory. His election marked an 
evolution in the public opinion of the annexed 
provinces and prepared the Governmental defeat 
of 1898. 

Ignace Spiess was an honest and conscientious 
merchant, as hardworking as he was intelligent. 
He had for a long time belonged to the group of 
those moderate men who, placing themselves on 
the ground of accomplished facts, strove, whilst 
carefully safeguarding their dignity, to collabo- 
rate with the Government in the economic restora- 
tion of the country. During long years he had 
been, under the direction of Canon Winterer, the 



IN THE REICHSTAG 27 

veteran of our political struggles, one of the 
most attentively listened to, and also one of the 
most courageous of the orators of the Delegation. 
He did not take up an attitude of systematic op- 
position; but, every time a question of principle 
arose in the Strassburg Parliament, he stood up 
boldly to von Puttkamer, who was the most hot- 
headed, most brutal, and also most despised of all 
the Ministers of Alsace-Lorraine. 

When dismissed by the Secretary of State, M. 
Spiess considered it no longer his duty to observe 
the same reserve as formerly and became one of 
the most determined of the leaders of the national 
opposition. Once more the Government's surly 
policy caused a semi-Moderate to join the ranks 
of the ultra-Nationalists. How many times, dur- 
ing my long connection with the two Parliaments, 
have I not followed, with amused eye, the evolu- 
tion of my colleagues, who formerly were consid- 
ered, wrongly or rightly, to have exchanged their 
independence for a mess of pottage in the form 
of Governmental favours. All those rallies, dis- 
couraged by the Ministry's violence, came back 
to us, one after the other, expressing their disgust 
in the same stereotyped phrase : 

"No, really, there is no means of living with 
those brutes." 

The most striking conversion was that of M. 



28 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Gunzert, one of the rare Alsatians who, imme- 
diately after the annexation, entered the German 
Administration. At first Gunzert was well re- 
warded for this betrayal; he obtained rapid pro- 
motion in the magistracy, numerous decorations, 
an official candidature; nothing was withheld 
from the turncoat. And yet the hour of conver- 
sion struck for him as for the others. He had 
accepted the presidency of a committee for the 
raising of a monument to the memory of the 
French soldiers who fell for their country on the 
Giesberg, near Wissemburg. That was enough 
to make him suspect to the Government and to 
subject him to the vilest insults. With a tardy 
return of energy, M. Gunzert recovered the con- 
victions of his youth, and he also, one day, ex- 
claimed in my presence : 

"It is impossible to be on good terms with 
those brutes." 

Ignace Spiess did not have so long a path to 
follow to become once more a militant National- 
ist. On entering the Reichstag, he took his place 
in the then very small group of Deputies for 
Alsace-Lorraine and became the most staunch 
political friend of Jacques Preiss. 

Spiess acted as our introducer to the Imperial 
Parliament. The members of the Reichstag enter 
their palace by a reserved door opening on to 



IN THE REICHSTAG 29 

the Thiergarten. Spiess pointed out to us the 
extravagant symbol which decorated it. Above the 
door was a powerful stone lion, rampant, holding 
under its left paw a ball on which one could read 
the words "Elsass-Lothringen." The representa- 
tives of our country had several times asked that 
this humiliating symbol of our servitude should 
be removed. But they had not succeeded in effect- 
ing this. 

Prince von Arenberg was more fortunate in 
1906 when he had removed from the Reichstag a 
huge picture which for several weeks was hung 
above the President's seat. This canvas repre- 
sented William I, Bismarck, and Moltke on 
horseback on the Sedan battlefield. In the fore- 
ground a German soldier was stretching a French 
flag under the hoofs of the old Emperor's war- 
horse. This stupid and odious provocation was a 
source of constant joy to the Prussian Conserva- 
tives. Prince von Arenberg, a member of the 
Centre, considered, however, that the insult to 
conquered France was too indecent, so he suc- 
ceeded in getting the picture relegated to the room 
— far from the eyes of the public — where the Bud- 
get Committee sat. 

The Reichstag Palace is an enormous cube of 
freestone, flanked by four massive towers. Wil- 
liam II himself, whose artistic taste, however, is 



30 BEHIND THE SCENES 

very little developed, declared one day that the 
gilded cupola which surmounts the centre of the 
building was "the height of bad taste" ("der 
Gipfel der Geschmacklosigkeit") . 

Decorative motifs abound inside the building. 
There is a bewildering excess of wainscoting, bas- 
reliefs, statues, frescoes, and stained-glass win- 
dows. Now, you may search in vain amidst all 
this accumulation of ornaments for a single em- 
blem which reveals to the visitor the destination 
of the palace. Paintings and sculpture glorify 
exclusively the Hohenzollern dynasty, when they 
do not represent subjects which, in that place, 
are grotesque in the extreme. What, indeed, are 
those huge stained-glass windows which remind 
us of the gallant adventures of Romeo and Juliet, 
and the tragic destiny of Othello and Desdemona, 
doing there? 

Above the door where the members enter, an- 
other window of colossal dimensions depicts a 
thickset Germania, around whom the twenty-five 
German states, symbolised by children in carnival 
dress, dance in a ring. The stout red-faced girl 
holds in her hands the two ends of a ribbon, dis- 
playing the colours of the Empire, which winds 
round the waists of all the dancers. One cannot 
imagine a more foolish or uglier allegory. The 
German, who, however, in practical life, proves 



IN THE REICHSTAG 31 

he possesses a most positive mind, always discon- 
certs one by these outbursts of sickly sentimental- 
ism. Thus, the guides who show foreigners over 
the Reichstag Palace every morning never miss 
pointing out to them that the building is con- 
structed of stone and wood from all the Confed- 
erate States — a fresh material symbol of impe- 
rial unity. 

Bismarck was right in saying, "The Latins 
were civilised ten centuries before we were, and 
we have never caught up to them." 

The interior arrangement of the Reichstag Pal- 
ace is, however, luxurious and relatively conve- 
nient. There are lobbies abundantly supplied 
with armchairs; a big gallery over 96 yards long, 
where the members can take walking exercise; 
bath-rooms, a gymnasium with complicated appa- 
ratus, a well-stocked library, a reading-room with 
400 German and foreign papers, spacious writing- 
rooms, a number of small reception rooms, private 
offices with telephones and couches, hair-dressing 
saloon, a pharmacy, and a restaurant. Every- 
thing has been foreseen to enable the representa- 
tives of the German people to find in the build- 
ing itself all the pleasures of life. 

On the other hand, the acoustic quality of the 
assembly hall is very defective. It is true that 
the public of the galleries alone complain. At 



82 BEHIND THE SCENES 

the Reichstag no attention whatever is paid to 
speeches delivered at the tribune. Rare are the 
speakers who retain the attention of their col- 
leagues. The others speak in front of empty 
benches, or in the midst <>f the deafening noise 
of private conversations. 

I was present at the opening silting of the 
Reichstag. The ceremony look place in the 

While Room al the Imperial Palace. We were 

shown n|) to it by a hack staircase. All those of 
my colleagues who were officers of the reserve 
had put on their uniforms. The throne— a very 

modest one was situated opposite us, raised a 
COUple of steps from the ground, between two 
windows. It was surmounted by a canopy. On 

the left stood the members of the Federal Coun- 
cil, in gold embroidered coats, covered with deco- 
rations. On the right were the generals in full- 
dress uniform. Along the wall the Palace CJuard, 
in uniforms dating hack lo the days of Frederick, 

presented arms, whilst the officers, with little 
three-COrnered hats on their heads, held bcrib- 

boned shepherds 9 crooks. 

1 have described elsewhere the grotesque pro- 
cession which precedes the Emperor on the occa- 
sion of these official ceremonies— a procession with 

heralds-at-arms wearing embroidered dalmatieas, 
a swarm of pages in knee breeches and pink doub- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 33 

lets, and generals carrying on cushions the in- 
signia of imperial dignity. 

The Emperor, who wore a scarlet cloak over 
his white cuirassier's uniform, saluted ceremoni- 
ously as he passed by. He was followed by the 
princes of his family. The Crown Prince took 
his place on the first step of the throne, to the 
right of his father. Then William II, after put- 
ting on his helmet, which up to then he had car- 
ried under his arm, took the Crown speech from 
the Chancellor's hands and began to read it with 
a nasal twang. He laid stress on the principal 
phrases by roaring a little louder and casting an 
authoritative glance at the assembly. Whereupon 
the members of the Reichstag showed their ap- 
probation by loud cries, in chorus, of "Sehr rich- 
tig! Sehr richtig"— "Hear! Hear!" 

When the reading of the speech was over, the 
Chancellor declared the session of the Reichstag 
open, and whilst the audience vociferated the 
"Hoch! Hoch! Hoch!" required by Court eti- 
quette, the Imperial procession formed anew and 
disappeared. The ceremony was as paltry as it 
was am using. The members had the look of little 
boys on whom a severe schoolmaster had imposed 
an imposition and who had no right to resist. In 
fact, the Reichstag cannot send the Emperor an 
address in reply to the Speech from the Throne. 



34 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Curiosity led me to attend this theatrical cere- 
mony. I was not to be caught again. 

I had also the opportunity, in those days, of 
attending a gala performance at the Berlin Opera 
House. The Marshal of the Court, according to 
custom, had sent a certain number of invitations 
to the Reichstag. There were only forty of us 
there that day, so one of the tickets was handed 
to me. I gave way to temptation. Once more 
it was necessary to wear a special costume: dress- 
coat, knee breeches, silk stockings, and buckled 
shoes. Fortunately, there are Court outfitters 
in Berlin who hire out these costumes by the day 
for 20 to 25 marks. I must confess that I felt 
some disgust when pulling on those breeches, the 
freshness of which, through having clothed so 
many unknown legs, had departed. Neverthe- 
less, in the evening, in company with some thirty 
colleagues, I occupied modestly an orchestra stall, 
whilst in the boxes and dress circles the diplo- 
matists, high officials, and general officers posed 
in their shining uniforms, side by side with their 
wives and daughters, all of whom, in low-necked 
dresses, had donned their finest jewellery. The 
scene was marvellous, and yet I was to carry 
away a mournful impression of that evening. In- 
deed, as soon as the Emperor and his guests ar- 
rived the whole house rose. Silently, the men 



IN THE REICHSTAG 35 

bent themselves double and the women made a 
deep bow; after which, on the curtain rising, a 
chilly silence reigned during the whole perform- 
ance. There was no applause except when the 
Sovereign gave the signal; no private conversa- 
tion, even in a low voice. Moreover, no one fol- 
lowed the actors' play. All eyes — in which one 
could read veritable devotion — were directed to- 
wards the Imperial box. After two hours of that 
torture I was glad to find myself once more under 
the Lindens, in the midst of the crowd, which, 
notwithstanding the cold, was standing there gaz- 
ing at the wall "behind which something was hap- 
pening." 

One does not go twice to so tedious a spectacle. 

In November, 1898, at the time of my second 
journey to Berlin, I found myself sitting in the 
railway carriage opposite a young and distin- 
guished-looking man. I had a long conversation 
with him. He was a representative of Cook's 
Agency. He was about to accept delivery of 
the Emperor William and his suite for the voyage 
of that Sovereign to Constantinople and through 
Palestine. The agency had agreed, for the sum 
of three millions, on the following route: Venice, 
Constantinople, Jerusalem, Trieste. Tips were 
included in this fixed price. They are economical 
at the Prussian Court. 



36 BEHIND THE SCENES 

This voyage to the East was, however, to have 
its epilogue in the Reichstag. The Chancellor's 
travelling expenses had not been set down in the 
contract with the English agency, consequently 
the Imperial Parliament was asked to pay an 
additional 60,000 marks. The majority, with very 
bad grace, consented to do so. 

It is not generally known that the German 
Emperor has no civil list and does not receive an 
allowance for expenses as head of the Germanic 
Confederation. William II has, therefore, to be 
content with his Prussian civil list of 17,000,000 
marks and the revenues from his private fortune, 
about which we possess only incomplete particu- 
lars. The King of Prussia owns about 205,000 
acres of land and 300 residences in Germany. It 
is also known that William II started a porce- 
lain manufactory for the output of which there 
is great competition among the courtiers and 
seekers after titles and decorations. He is like- 
wise an important shareholder in the Krupp 
works, whilst some people claim that he has in- 
vested a considerable capital in British and Amer- 
ican enterprises. 

However that may be, the Court remains faith- 
ful to the old Prussian traditions of economy — 
I was almost going to say of niggardliness. The 
presents and tips which the Emperor distributes 



IN THE REICHSTAG 37 

in the course of his travels are lamentably mean. 

On several occasions the Chancellor attempted 
to obtain from the Reichstag certain frais de 
representation for the "needy" Sovereign, but a 
deaf ear was always turned to these demands. To 
indemnify one whose duty it is to be the first 
among "equals" would, in the opinion of the Im- 
perial Parliament, do injury to the federal char- 
acter of the Empire. 

Parties in the Reichstag are organised in a 
military manner. When the leaders of the 
groups have concluded, amidst the mystery of 
secret deliberations, advantageous compromises, 
everyone knows beforehand what the speakers, 
delegated by the various fractions of the assem- 
bly, will say at the tribune. "Bestellete Arbeit" 
("Bespoke work") say the initiated, who take no 
further interest in speeches which are intended 
solely for the electors. 

As it is the leaders who, almost without con- 
trol, do all the parliamentary work, who choose 
the spokesmen of their parties and submit their 
declarations to a rigorous preliminary censor- 
ship, the members who have not the honour of 
belonging to the directing committee of their 
group do not even take the trouble to study the 
Budget or read the various Bills. They vote to 
order. Nothing further is asked of them, and 



38 BEHIND THE SCENES 

they easily resign themselves to this obscure role. 

I do not believe there exists a Parliament in 
the world which does less personal work than the 
Reichstag. The reports of the committees, which 
are merely short, dry analyses of the proceedings, 
are almost always drawn up by Government sec- 
retaries and are simply signed by the chairmen. 

At the time I entered the Reichstag, the num- 
ber of those who attended was almost always 
ridiculously small. Out of 398 members, barely 
60 attended the sittings. How many times col- 
leagues, belonging to a big committee and there- 
fore obliged to remain in Berlin, have expressed 
their surprise at my assiduity. 

" Whatever are you doing here?" they used to 
ask me. "Wait until you're telegraphed for." 

Indeed, every time there was to be an important 
vote, the Director of the Reichstag, advised by 
the party leaders, sent urgent telegrams in all 
directions to call together the impenitent strikers. 
It thus happened that three or four times a year 
the Parliament was full. In ordinary times the 
lobbies were empty. I recollect that at the time 
when the reform of the Artisans' Insurance Bill 
was voted there were exactly seven members in 
the House. The President took a pleasure, after 
each vote, by sitting down or standing up, in 



IN THE REICHSTAG 39 

noting that the clause had been "adopted by a 
big majority." 

Voting by delegation is unknown at the Reichs- 
tag, Only the votes of the members present are 
counted. A single member may, it is true, point 
out that there is not a quorum (half plus one of 
the elected ) , and in that case the sitting must be 
suspended. But it hardly ever happens that re- 
course is had to this expedient to adjourn a vote. 
The reason for this is very simple. As soon as 
the parties have decided on their line of conduct, 
they know mathematically how many votes will 
be assured for the various clauses of the Bill and 
the amendments proposed. As each Bill, as else- 
where, is read three times, and as, henceforth, in 
case of dispute, the party leaders have the re- 
source, before the final vote, of mobilising the 
whole of their military forces, every surprise is 
eliminated. 

That is so true that, when by chance those pres- 
ent gave a majority to the Opposition, the Oppo- 
sition itself proposed the adjournment of the 
vote until the true majority was sufficiently rep- 
resented. The absent ones would never have par- 
doned a disagreeable and costly journey to Ber- 
lin simply to exercise their right of vote, by 
standing up or sitting down, for a few seconds. 

I say "costly journey" advisedly. In fact, un- 



40 BEHIND THE SCENES 

til 1906 the members of the Reichstag received 
no parliamentary indemnity. Moreover, there 
was no refreshment-room at the Reichstag, but 
a restaurant where all the refreshments had to be 
paid for. Finally, the members enjoyed travel- 
ling on the railways only between their residence 
and Berlin, and that only during the sessions. 
One can understand that the number of those 
present was always reduced to a minimum. 

In order to recruit candidates, the parties were 
obliged to offer seats in the Reichstag to mem- 
bers of particular Parliaments who received an 
indemnity. Still, these holders of double man- 
dates interested themselves more in the legisla- 
tion of the States than in that of the Empire. 
Only the Prussian Deputies, whose Landtag sat 
at Berlin, < ould easily attend the sittings of the 
Reichstag. Every time an important vote was 
to take place they were summoned by telephone. 
This circumstance explains the preponderating 
influence the Prussians had been able to secure 
in the Imperial Parliament. 

However that may be, the representatives of 
other States came but rarely to Berlin, because 
in so doing they suffered a double loss: expense 
without any compensation, and the loss of their 
daily indemnity in their particular Parliament. 

Prince von Biilow, after the stormy debates 



IN THE REICHSTAG 41 

on the increase of direct taxes, devised a means 
of improving the attendance of members of the 
Reichstag by according them a parliamentary in- 
demnity and at the same time, still for the dura- 
tion of the sessions, a pass on all the railways of 
the Empire. 

The Germans, however, have so complicated a 
mentality that the most judicious reforms as- 
sume a strange character in their country. The 
indemnity was fixed at a maximum of 3,000 marks 
(£150 ) . They divided it into monthly sums : 200 
marks for the month of November, 300 for De- 
cember, 400 for January, 500 for February, 600 
for March, and 1,000 for the whole period after 
Easter. 

From these monthly allowances there were de- 
ductions of 20 marks from those whose names were 
not to be found on the attendance lists, or who 
failed to take part in a nominal vote. 

Why all these absurd formalities? The reason 
for them was very simple. The shorter the ses- 
sions were, the larger the number of presence- 
counters. The Chancellor, therefore, aranged for 
all the important Bills to be brought on for dis- 
cussion after Easter. As at that time the mem- 
bers' chief anxiety was to return home as quickly 
as possible, whilst receiving the larger part of 



42 BEHIND THE SCENES 

their indemnity, the discussion was inevitably 
shortened. 

The pass on the railways of the Empire also 
served as a bribe. When the end of the session 
drew near the Chancellor informed the members 
— in this case without any beating about the bush 
— that if, before leaving, they voted such and such 
a Bill to which the Government attached special 
importance, the Reichstag would not be closed but 
merely adjourned, which meant that during the 
holidays the members could continue to travel at 
the expense of the public. Rarely did the major- 
ity resist this tempting prospect; and it was thus 
that the Imperial Parliament was adjourned 
three years in succession, which constituted a 
record. 

Another advantage, moreover, arose from this 
adjournment. The closure is supposed in Ger- 
many to entail the annulling of all the work of 
the permanent or special committees. The reform 
of the Civil Code, which was thus constantly be- 
gun again ab ovo, not only after each legislature, 
but also after each session, occupied the Reichstag 
for more than twenty successive years. 

Prince von Biilow, who was the great promoter 
of pan-Germanism, saw clearly the advantages 
which the Central Government would derive from 
the granting of a parliamentary indemnity to 



IN THE REICHSTAG 43 

members of the Reichstag. What he specially 
aimed at was a diminution of the number of dou- 
ble mandates. Indeed, Deputies who belonged to 
two Parliaments were quite naturally particular- 
ists, by virtue of the principle which has been em- 
bodied in its most original form in the German 
proverb — "The shirt is nearer the body than the 
coat." Every time that a conflict over legal capa- 
city took place between the Empire and the 
States, the holders of double mandates, fearing 
to alienate the electors of their particular district, 
energetically opposed Prussian attempts at 
monopolisation. 

Thus arose perpetual and increasing difficul- 
ties for Imperialist militarism, which was anxious, 
above all, to converge all the energies of the na- 
tion towards the great war of conquests. 

From the day on which the members of the 
Reichstag were remunerated, and especially on 
which, thanks to an ingenious system of stop- 
pages of payment, those who belonged to two 
Parliaments received an indemnity taken in the 
lump which was smaller than that of their col- 
leagues who sat in only one legislative assembly, 
the parties, who no longer found themselves faced 
with a candidates' strike, devoted their attention 
to suppressing double mandates as much as pos- 
sible. 



44 BEHIND THE SCENES 

The effects expected from this measure were 
not long in becoming apparent. The number of 
attendances rose progressively (in recent years 
the quorum was always exceeded), and the mem- 
bers, sitting solely in the Reichstag, freed them- 
selves from particularist cares, to devote them- 
selves heart and soul to the interests of the Em- 
pire. Prince von Biilow had attained his end. 
The counterpoise of the policy of the States had 
disappeared. Henceforth nothing could arrest 
the Imperial Parliament on the path of aggressive 
Imperialism. 

But let us return to the Parliament of before 
1906. The members led there, associated with a 
few loyal ones, most of them attached to big com- 
mittees, a life of ease. The four to five dozen 
Deputies, lost in the huge building, enjoyed there 
all the pleasures of life. A very numerous staff 
surrounded them with a thousand engaging atten- 
tions. The sofas at the end of the assembly hall 
were not crowded, so that during wearisome 
speeches one could quietly have a nap there. I 
have seen my colleagues stretch out at full length 
in order to sleep the better. 

In that respect, I must also point out that there 
is an absolute disregard as to dress in the Imperial 
Parliament. The members of the Executive, like 
the Chancellor, the Secretaries of State, and the 



IN THE REICHSTAG 45 

Plenipotentiaries of the Federal Council, wear 
fancy jackets. Herr Scheidemann, the Socialist 
leader who has been so much talked about during 
the present war, alone departed from this rule 
during the few weeks he was Vice-President. 
Never was there a more impeccable frock-coat or 
a more carefully curled beard seen in the Reichs- 
tag than on the days when the "austere" Social- 
ist occupied the presidential chair. 

Scheidemann was not the only Socialist, how- 
ever, who took particular care over his toilet. 
Sudekum was regarded in the Imperial Parlia- 
ment as "the arbiter of fashion," and, indeed, his 
brilliant waistcoats and sumptuous ties were the 
admiration and aroused the envy of Conservative 
members themselves. 



46 BEHIND THE SCENES 



CHAPTER III 

The Parties of the Reichstag 

The Centre and the Alsatians — Eugen Richter and his 
Friends — The Volkspartei — Hasse and Bassermann — 
The Conservative — Catholics of the Centre — Martin 
Spahn — Hertling, Groeber, and Schaedler — Particular- 
ism and Imperialism. 

On our arrival in Berlin we were the object of 
interested attentions on the part of the members 
of the Centre and the Democrats, who sought to 
enlist us in their groups, at least as "guests" 
(Hospitanten). These good apostles thought 
that they would thus kill two birds with one stone : 
first of all lead us to renounce our national oppo- 
sition, and, secondly, assure for their parties a 
stronger representation on committees! Indeed, 
seats on the committees are divided among the 
parties in accordance with their numerical impor- 
tance. 

But there was no reason in those days for our 
yielding to those earnest requests. In fact, the 
parties of the Left and Centre had not yet evolved 
towards Imperialism. The representatives of the 
oppressed nationalities — Poles, Danes, and Al- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 47 

sace-Lorrainers — still found solid support among 
themselves every time that they presented their 
grievances before the Reichstag. The Centre, 
which had barely just freed itself from the 
clutches of the " Kulturkampf ," apparently re- 
mained faithful to the course given it by Wind- 
horst, Reichensperger, and Mallinckrot. If a few 
signs of weakness were already to be observed in 
the case of Lieber and Spahn, the Groebers, 
Schaedlers, and Heims had not abdicated in the 
presence of the pan-Germanism of Hasse. As 
to the Democratic Party, it was closely grouped 
around Eugen Richter, whose ultra-republican- 
ism showed no signs of weakening. 

Let us stop a moment to examine the interest- 
ing physiognomy of the last-named politician. 
Tall and stout, with a coarse-featured face en- 
framed by a shaggy beard, and eyes that were 
almost always lowered as though to enable his 
mind to reflect the better, Eugen Richter had 
nothing of the appearance of a combatant. And 
yet few men exercised over Parliament an action 
so powerful as his. When the President granted 
him leave to speak, all the members gathered 
around him, for he never left his seat to mount 
the tribune. In a weak falsetto voice, the shrill 
sounds of which, however, carried far, the eloquent 
Democrat, without having recourse to any ora- 



48 BEHIND THE SCENES 

torical artifice, without a gesture, and without 
modulating his intonations, always produced, by 
the sole force of his arguments and the formid- 
able action of his biting irony, the most profound 
impression on his listeners. 

Bismarck, who could not stand contradiction, 
used to leave the assembly as soon as Richter 
began to speak. The older members of the Reichs- 
tag had retained the amusing recollection of these 
distracted flights of the Iron Chancellor. 

Few debaters had the courage to try their 
strength with the terrible polemist. Kardorf and 
Kanitz, like Bebel and Singer, only reluctantly 
accepted the struggle with the man who always 
succeeded in having the laugh on his side. 

Richter, in a celebrated pamphlet, had formerly 
greatly weakened Bebel's credit by describing in 
detail the events which would happen in Germany 
on the morrow of the great social revolution, which 
the Socialist leader had imprudently fixed for 
1898. Bebel never recovered from that straight 
blow. 

The "great Eugen's" two lieutenants — Miiller- 
Sagan and Lentzmann — vigorously seconded 
him. The former, more diplomatic by tempera- 
ment, was later, when he succeeded Richter, to 
prepare the evolution of his party. The latter, 



IN THE REICHSTAG 49 

more intransigent, did not flinch before the most 
revolutionary formulas. 

I was in his society a great deal. He deplored 
the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine and under- 
stood quite well our resistance to German enter- 
prise. 

He it was who, one day, in the semicircle of 
the Reichstag, said to me in a loud and audible 
voice, as, with an angry gesture, he indicated the 
benches of the Extreme Left: 

"I've come to wish that Germany was beaten 
on the battlefield, so that we could be rid of those 
fellows there." 

Lentzmann, who was of apoplectic tempera- 
ment, died before his time, as happened, more- 
over, to Miiller-Sagan. The presidency of the 
Democratic group became very effeminate when 
occupied by those weaklings Muller-Meiningen 
and Wiemer, who were made by Biilow and Beth- 
mann-Hollweg to crouch and cringe before mili- 
tarism. 

Muller-Meiningen is one of the most grotesque 
figures, in the Reichstag. He reminds one of a 
mongrel which snaps and snarls furiously around 
the legs of all the passers-by. With his nose in 
the air, as though he was ever on the hunt, he 
seems to be always on the look-out for an oppor- 
tunity of quarrelling. His speciality is a stupid 



50 BEHIND THE SCENES 

anti-clericalism, which is not confined to great 
problems of political life but digresses amidst the 
twaddle of door-keepers. Miiller-Meiningen, in- 
deed, lingers behind to ferret about in the dust- 
bins of vestries and to sift the most unknown 
devotional manuals in order to find there easy 
subjects for coarse jokes. I have never been able 
to understand how it is that this little Bavarian 
judge has been able to acquire the influence he 
possesses in the Imperial Parliament. Prince von 
Biilow, who made the political fortune of Miiller- 
Meiningen because he knew he was ready for all 
sorts of dirty work, is too intelligent not to despise 
this vain and insupportable person. 

The holder of the other big part in the Demo- 
cratic Party, stout Wiemer, is more serious, al- 
though still more infatuated with himself. I knew 
him when he was a mere shorthand-writer in the 
Reichstag. He possesses a powerful voice, of 
which he makes an ill use. His pretentious 
speeches have nevertheless no action on Parlia- 
ment. 

On the other hand, Naumann is one of the most 
attentively listened to of the orators of the assem- 
bly. His huge body is surmounted by a very 
small head, and one is quite surprised to hear a 
thin voice, the intonations of which, however, are 
skilfully made the most of, come from so power- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 51 

ful a chest. Naumann is not destitute of a certain 
nobility of character, and one can feel a certain 
communicative emotion vibrating in his very real 
eloquence. Formerly a Protestant pastor, he 
specially applied himself to the study of the social 
problem, and in order to understand it better 
spent a few years in a manufactory as a simple 
workman. He was regarded before the war as 
an abstract theorist with his head in the clouds. 
His very elaborate speeches are distinguished in- 
deed by imprecision of thought, although their 
form is always perfect. 

Who would have thought that this sociological 
visionary would one day transform himself into a 
practical and positive realist? Now, it was Nau- 
mann who, in the early months of the war, con- 
ceived that plan of a Mitteleuropa (Central Eu- 
rope) which, even in the case of the defeat of 
Germany, would present enormous advantages 
for the Central Empires and would deprive the 
Allies of all the fruits of their victory. 

The Popular Party, which was neighbourly 
with the Democrats of Eugen Richter, was a 
group of local interest. It was composed exclu- 
sively of Wurtembergers. Small in number, it 
had a certain influence in the Reichstag, thanks 
to the ability of its leaders, Payer and the broth- 
ers Haussmann. The latter, who were twins, re- 



52 BEHIND THE SCENES 

sembled each other so much that we were always 
mixing them up. They had the same height, the 
same stoutness, the same face adorned by the 
same drooping moustache, the same shrill voice, 
the same tragic gestures. They professed the 
most advanced ideas. Their eloquence, a little 
too solemn and redundant, was not lacking in 
manner and corrosiveness. 

Conrad Haussmann, now the only survivor, has 
gone over with arms and baggage to the pan-Ger- 
man camp. Payer was to precede him in his con- 
centration to the Right. This terrible little man, 
who, thanks to his incontestable oratorical skill, 
possessed great influence both in the Wurtemberg 
Parliament and at the Reichstag, was never able 
to get rid of his Swabian accent. That gave a 
special attraction to his speeches, the matter and 
form of which were nevertheless impeccable. From 
the day on which Payer, elected President of the 
Lower Chamber of his native place, was led to 
frequent the Court circles of Stuttgart, he gave 
points to Prussian Conservatives themselves in 
the expression of his imperialistic patriotism. 

How many of these ex- Socialists I have seen 
transform themselves since 1901! Nowhere bet- 
ter than in the Reichstag could one observe the 
progress of pan-Germanism. In 1899 I heard 
almost the entire House indignantly protest 



IN THE REICHSTAG 53 

against the annexationist theories of the National- 
Liberal Hasse. In 1911 the Left itself had 
adopted these theories, and, if it showed a certain 
reserve in defending them publicly, it did not 
support the Chancellor, who practically prepared 
their application, with less energy. 

The first president of the pan-Germanist 
League, Hasse, — a tall, stout man with a vulgar 
face enframed by a red beard, — was a visionary. 
He spoke with great volubility, in a thick voice, 
and his eyes lost as in a dream. The most violent 
interruptions, the most offensive sarcasms and 
laughter, did not arrest the flow of his ecstatic 
eloquence. To him "Greater Germany" was a 
dogma, and he anathematised all heretics, Min- 
isters and Deputies, who took upon themselves 
to contradict him. We Alsace-Lorrainers had no 
more redoubtable enemy in the Reichstag. 

Bassermann was Hasse's most docile pupil. 
When I entered the Reichstag the head of the 
National-Liberal Party was still a somewhat un- 
important personage. A little lawyer of Baden, 
with no great ability, he had had the good for- 
tune to marry a very wealthy Jewess, which en- 
abled him to devote himself entirely to public life. 
Few politicians have had to suffer so many insults 
as Bassermann. A wandering candidate, he has 
never succeeded in getting elected twice in succes- 



54 BEHIND THE SCENES 

sion in the same constituency. But never has he 
lost faith in his star. 

Bassermann is a handsome man. Alas! he 
knows it and takes advantage of it. Too well- 
groomed, outrageously pomaded and perfumed, 
he struts about like a young god in the lobbies 
of the Reichstag, which do not seem broad enough 
for the graces which he complacently displays. 
One can guess, when he speaks to a colleague, that 
he imagines he is greatly honouring his interlocu- 
tor and is conscious of his magnanimity. Like 
the peacock, he spreads out his tail as soon as he 
is looked at. Everything in Bassermann indi- 
cates pride — his attitude, his gestures, and his 
affected speech. 

Governmental without restriction, because he 
openly aspires to the highest posts, the leader of 
the National-Liberals was always the most assidu- 
ous guest at the Wilhelmstrasse Palace. All the 
Chancellors have counted him among their most 
zealous courtiers. When, in Parliament, ques- 
tions of foreign policy arose and Bassermann 
unfolded his ever voluminous papers, the same 
disdainful reflection was made on all benches, 
"It's the Chancellor who is speaking." Everyone 
knew, indeed, that Bassermann's speech had been 
composed in the Government offices and that the 



IN THE REICHSTAG 55 

highest official of the Empire was putting into 
the mouth of his voluntary colleague what he 
himself could not say. It would be very inter- 
esting, to-day, to examine all the pre-war speeches 
of this puppet, in order to discover in them the 
secret thought of the Imperial Government. 

I have retained an amusing recollection of a 
short conversation I had with Bassermann the 
day after Prince von Billow's fall. To appreciate 
it thoroughly, it is necessary to explain that this 
ambitious man had ever been one of the bitterest 
adversaries of the Catholic Centre. 

One morning I happened to be alone in the 
writing-room when Bassermann entered. 

"Good morning, Mr. Chancellor," said I. 

Bassermann, glancing rapidly around, made 
sure that We were alone. Then, with the most 
charming of smiles, he replied: 

"Are you speaking to me? Anyway, you can 
let your friends of the Centre know that if I be- 
come Chancellor I shall be in perfect agreement 
with them." 

Since the beginning of the war, Bassermann, 
who was one of its principal artisans, wore the 
uniform of an officer of the reserve, and it was 
especially in Belgium that, between two parlia- 
mentary sessions, he exercised his ability as an 



56 BEHIND THE SCENES 

ultra-patriotic administrator. 1 Do not let us show 
the least surprise. All the foreign nationalities 
of the Empire always found in this man, who was 
as mediocre as he was vain, a determined adver- 
sary. 

I knew at the Reichstag the Conservatives von 
Heydebrandt, Count Kanitz, and Kardorff. The 
first-named — quite a little man, thin and restless 
— has always exercised an enormous influence on 
the decisions of his party. He was laughingly 
called "the uncrowned King of Prussia," and, in 
fact, he dictated his orders to the Chancellor. 

The Prussian Conservative, the Junker, is in 
no way, as is imagined abroad, a supple politician, 
submissive and governmental by nature. The 
country gentry of the Elbe form a very exclusive 
caste, one whose rigid traditions will suffer no 
tutelage, even though royal. They have a State 
doctrine to which, amidst all changes in public 
life, they remain immovably faithful. As they 
get themselves paid for their fidelity to the throne 
by all sort of privileges, and occupy all the avenues 
to power, they have forgotten obedience, and 
speak as masters in a State which has become 
their property. 

Ministerial posts, provincial governorships, 

1 Bassermann died almost suddenly in July, 1917. He 
was sixty-two years of age. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 57 

lord-lieutenancies, and the High Command in the 
Army are theirs by right. When Miquel and 
Dernburg were appointed, one a Prussian Min- 
ister, the other a Secretary of State of the Em- 
pire, the elevation of these commoners to high 
posts reserved for the caste provoked an explo- 
sion of anger in Conservative circles. In the 
regiments of the Guard, as in certain cavalry 
regiments, all the officers belong to Junker fam- 
ilies. Hence an effective power of which they 
often make an ill use. 

The Conservatives can, if need be, be the fiercest 
of opponents in the Prussian Landtag and in 
the Reichstag. Chancellors fear them and almost 
always capitulate before their unreasonable de- 
mands. Prince von Bulow was their victim, whilst 
Bethmann-Hollweg was constantly obliged to 
buy their malevolent neutrality by concessions of 
principle. At the time of the Canal Affair, 
Junker officials were seen to throw themselves 
heart and soul into the anti-governmental agita- 
tion, and in this they were openly encouraged by 
a few friendly Ministers. The King of Prussia 
reigns ; Herr von Heydebrandt governs. 

This oligarchy has always prevented the great 
kingdom of the north from democratising its 
State institutions. How many times the advisers 
of the Prussian Crown have, during the last cen- 



58 BEHIND THE SCENES 

tury and under pressure of events, promised re- 
forms which the Junkers have always brought to 
nothing ! 

Between 1898 and 1905 the star of the Con- 
servatives grew dim at the Reichstag. It was to 
assume all its brilliance during the years that fol- 
lowed, when all parties in Parliament, after the 
Algeciras Affair, saw that the Great War, desired 
by the Right and the military party, was certain 
to break out soon. 

Count Kanitz, one of the best collaborators of 
von Heydebrandt, spoke chiefly on agrarian ques- 
tions. He was fiercely protectionist. This tall 
and emaciated man with sympathetic face pos- 
sessed the temperament of an apostle and could 
retain the ear of the Reichstag; whilst his col- 
league Kardorff, of the party of Independent 
Conservatives, always provoked uproars when, in 
his tremulous voice, he attacked the Extreme Left. 
This ex-officer, in a duel with a student, von Ket- 
teler (later one of the most celebrated bishops of 
Prussia), had lost his nose, and wore a silver one, 
the paint of which used often to peel off, which 
did not contribute to make his physiognomy agree- 
able. In his personal relations with his colleagues 
he was as amiably smiling as he was churlish in 
the tribune. 

This contrast between the worldly courtesy and 



IN THE REICHSTAG 50 

the political attitude of the Conservatives is one 
of the most disconcerting features not only for 
the foreigner, but also for the Germans them- 
selves. Highly educated men, and polite some- 
times to the point of obsequiousness, the Junkers 
cut a very good figure in international drawing- 
rooms, where alas! the most cordial welcome is 
reserved for them. That does not prevent them 
following, everywhere and always, with inflexible 
tenacity, their policy of universal domination, and 
from employing the most questionable means of 
triumphing. A Prussian Conservative will have 
no scruples in taking part in espionage, and of 
course under cover of his family and friendly re- 
lations. Prussia dominating the world and his 
caste dominating Prussia — that is his constant and 
almost sole aim. 

I was on the best personal terms with the mem- 
bers of the Right, who, however, every time an 
Alsace-Lorraine speaker rose in the Reichstag, 
interrupted his speech with churlish and prepos- 
terous exclamations. I chiefly came into contact 
with Oertel, that simple journalist who, through 
his ability as writer and speaker, made a select 
position for himself in the ranks of the Junkers. 
Oertel was the type of the jovial politician and 
good fellow. Unconscionably stout, he still fur- 
ther exaggerated, through dilettantism, the enor- 



60 BEHIND THE SCENES 

mous prominence of his stomach by wearing a 
white waistcoat. When in the tribune he disarmed 
his adversaries by a running fire of often very 
successful jokes. He also wrote subtle, spirited 
and passionate articles which delighted the Right. 
In his private conversation he became the sceptical 
politician, who, in the political comedy, found 
more reasons for smiling than motives for getting 
angry. Intercourse with him was all the more 
agreeable as he was thoroughly acquainted with 
all the petty scandal of the Reichstag, and he 
detailed it, apparently without malice and with 
many an indulgent smile, before those who had 
the good luck to inspire confidence and friendship 
in him. His political friends were not safe from 
his practical jokes. 

In 1898 the Catholic Centre had an exceptional 
position in the Reichstag. According as it gave 
the weight of its ninety-eight votes to the Left 
or the Right, it displaced majorities as it liked. 
Its managing committee, of which Lieber was the 
prime mover, even pleaded this pretext as an ex- 
cuse for its evolution towards governmentalism. 
Can a party which bears such heavy responsibil- 
ities as regards the Empire isolate itself with the 
extreme opposition? Moreover, was it not nec- 
essary to repair the ruins of the "Kulturkampf"? 
And was not the best means of doing that to get 



IN THE REICHSTAG 61 

paid for the services rendered the Chancellor by 
particular concessions? 

Lieber, who, with his colleague Spahn, was the 
initiator of this policy of abdication, was a lawyer 
by profession. Slim and small-statured, the pos- 
sessor of a long, flowing beard, and affected in 
manner, he was not lacking in ability, though he 
wrongly imagined he had the qualities of a great 
diplomatist. He spoke with closed eyes, without 
a gesture, putting his interminable phrases, in 
that nonsensical language at which the Germans 
themselves scoff by calling it Professorendeutsch 
(professorial German), into the most precise or- 
der. His evident anxiety was to bring himself 
into prominence before he tried to convince his 
adversaries. 

At first, the leader of the Centre tried to treat 
the representatives of Alsace-Lorraine with a cer- 
tain disdain. But when he encountered an unex- 
pected resistance on our part he showed greater 
suppleness and was more accessible. Still, we 
had some difficulty as long as he held a preponder- 
ant position in the Reichstag in getting our prop- 
ositions regarding the abolition of the dictator- 
ship discussed. Lieber, in agreement with the 
Chancellor, always found an empty pretext for 
adjourning a debate which would have forced his 
group to censure the Government. 



62 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Spahn seconded him in these attempts to stifle 
our demands. Poor Spahn ! An ambitious magis- 
trate, given to cringing and begging, he was gov- 
ernmental by temperament. Bad luck led him to 
join an opposition party and he could never get 
over it. When this tall man of insignificant ap- 
pearance was obliged to contradict the Chancellor 
or his collaborators, there were always tears in his 
shrill voice. His prudent words and roundabout 
phrases revealed his geat embarrassment. His 
friends called him skilful, but I always considered 
he was chiefly timid — nay, more, a coward. 

Spahn's top hat was the subject of constant 
jokes in the Reichstag. As soon as the vice-pres- 
ident of the Centre put it on, it was known that 
he had been or was about to go to the Wilhelm- 
strasse, to propose to the Chancellor one of those 
compromises which German parliamentarians 
called, in their far from elegant language, a 
Kuhhandel — a cow-bargain. The sacrifice of 
principles in exchange for personal advantages 
or concessions favourable to the party — it was 
in such profitable but far from honourable oper- 
ations as that that Spahn employed all his mod- 
est ability. The independents of the Centre (and 
at the close of the last century they were still 
numerous) were furious at what they considered 
were acts of treason, but the impenitent negotia- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 63 

tor always ended, by using threats and supplica- 
tions, in dominating them. 

Spahn was afflicted by a son who was destined 
to cause him the greatest trouble. Martin was 
intended for a professorial career, and aspired 
to a chair in history at a university. Outrage- 
ously ambitious, he had long sought his way. He 
first of all exhausted himself in mediocre publi- 
cations, in which, in an inflated style, without 
either order or method, he lavished his second- 
hand erudition. 

Not wishing to offend anyone, this ludicrous 
fellow spent his time in hypocritically comment- 
ing on his former writings, in order to reply to 
justified criticisms. If need be, he affirmed with 
the utmost effrontery that the phrases with which 
he was confronted signified the opposite of what 
had been read in them. A lie in human form, 
Martin Spahn always deceived his friends and 
foes alike. 

Now, because he called himself a Catholic, 
whilst sacrificing all his beliefs to his ambition, 
and because, on the other hand, his books had 
nothing original in them save their intentional 
vagueness, the young historian could not succeed 
in obtaining the title of professor. No university 
would have anything to do with him. 

One fine morning, the vice-president of the 



64 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Centre put on his best frock-coat and top hat and 
went to call upon Prince von Biilow, who, as 
though by chance, needed the support of the 
Centre in an important question. When Spahn 
left the Chancellor's office his face was wreathed 
in smiles. A few days later an Imperial decree 
officially appointed Martin Spahn Professor of 
History at the University of Strassburg. This 
intervention of the Sovereign was contrary to all 
tradition, since no professor can be received in 
a German university without the consent of his 
future colleagues. Throughout the whole of in- 
tellectual Germany there was a formidable rising 
in arms against the Chancellor and his inspirer. 
Personal at first, the discussion soon became theo- 
retical. The Voravssetzungslosigkheit — freedom 
from prejudice — of the savants caused torrents of 
ink and saliva to flow. "Martin Spahn had been 
appointed to Strassburg because he was a Cath- 
olic. Science had no knowledge and must not 
have any knowledge of these irrelevant consid- 
erations," repeated all the members of the univer- 
sities and their friends in chorus. The debate be- 
came so envenomed that the Chancellor was mo- 
mentarily threatened with a crisis. 

Martin Spahn and his father allowed the storm 
to subside. The former, installed in his chair, 
hastened, moreover, to give pledges to his oppo- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 65 

nents by publishing pamphlets on the subject of 
official instruction and on Pope Leo XIII, which 
created a scandal in the Catholic world. The 
odious fellow began his double game again in 
order to assure the favours of all parties. At the 
same time he inaugurated in Alsace that hypo- 
critical and cunning policy which made him the 
plague of the Nationalists. Never did an intriguer 
of low degree place at the service of the narrow- 
est Germanism such knavery and so great a lack 
of scruples. Constantly treated with scorn, the 
ignoble personage immediately resumed his un- 
derhand work in the hope of succeeding even 
then in imposing himself on our political organ- 
isations. 

In 1906 he found a German constituency will- 
ing to offer him a seat. But hardly had he been 
elected to the Reichstag than he was excluded 
from the group of the Centre, of which his father 
was vice-president. Once more he tried, by means 
of denials and platitudes, to force the door closed 
against him. But he succeeded no better than 
he had done in Alsace-Lorraine in playing the 
important political part he had dreamed of. 

Spahn senior had a colleague at the Reichstag 
who later became his unfortunate competitor for 
the presidency of the Centre, Baron von Hertling, 
Professor of Philosophy at the University of 



66 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Munich. Another ambitious man, but how much 
more intelligent, more subtle, and more skilful 
than he. Hertling succeeded somewhat late in 
attaining an important position, since for the past 
six years he has been Prime Minister in Bavaria. 
This little man, who is an admirable speaker, had 
succeeded, at the time he belonged to the Opposi- 
tion, in getting himself entrusted with several dip- 
lomatic missions to the Vatican. In Rome he was 
held in great esteem, although he always placed 
his German patriotism before his religious con- 
victions. He it was who, in the last year of the 
pontificate of Leo XIII, obtained from the Pope, 
weakened by age and illness, the establishment 
at Strassburg of that Catholic theological faculty 
which was chiefly to serve the purpose of German- 
ising our young clergy. 

Hertling's speeches were always much appre- 
ciated in the Reichstag. Their academic form, 
however, badly concealed the lack of courage of 
an orator who chiefly sought to spare the Govern- 
ment. With Lieber and Spahn, Hertling was 
one of the principal artisans of the rally of the 
Centre to pan-Germanism. 1 These three pontiffs 
of the intermediary period were to prepare the 
way for Erzberger. 

1 Baron von Hertling has just succeeded Herr Michaelis 
as Chancellor of the Empire. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 67 

Groeber was and has remained the type of the 
honest man. A judge in Wurtemberg, he was 
very young when he entered parliamentary life, 
of which he is now the veteran. There is a strik- 
ing contrast between his huge width of back and 
the almost childish naivete of his mind. Though 
of superior intelligence and inflexible character, 
good old Groeber has never understood anything 
of the intrigues of which he was the victim, and 
of which he has become the unconscious accom- 
plice. Spahn and Hertling have employed him on 
the most suspicious business. With the most per- 
fect good faith, he has followed where it pleased 
them to lead him. He has served as a screen for 
the over-skilful leaders of the Centre. His great 
conscientiousness disguised their questionable en- 
terprises. I always had a feeling of embarrass- 
ment and pity when I heard Groeber, in his strong 
bass voice, uphold the crafty policy of his friends. 
He put such conviction and spirit into it. 

Many a time have I walked with the Wurtem- 
berg parliamentarian along the alleys of the 
Thiergarten. He was grieved by the persecutions 
inflicted upon us and found severe words to con- 
demn them. And yet, as soon as the diplomatists 
of his party had turned him round, he condemned 
with equal sincerity from the tribune our spirit 
of opposition. 



68 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Groeber never consented to marriage. He fre- 
quented the religious services assiduously, and the 
appearance of this tall bearded man edified all 
the faithful. For a long time an ultra-particu- 
larist, he passed, after 1911, into the army of the 
ultra-patriots. 

I knew another turncoat who expended less 
time and reflection in abjuring his brilliant past. 
The Abbe Schaedler, a Bavarian, who had the 
face and to a certain extent the ability of Mira- 
beau, had made a brilliant debut in his country as 
a speaker at public meetings. In those days Prus- 
sia had no more redoubtable adversary. He came 
several times to Alsace-Lorraine on lecturing 
tours, which had a great success, because this Ger- 
man could say in almost revolutionary language 
what we could express only in prudent and meas- 
ured terms. 

Schaedler entered the Reichstag when very 
young. There he immediately attained consider- 
able influence in his party. How great was my 
surprise when I saw the fierce demagogue trans- 
form himself progressively into a downright sup- 
porter of the Government! Backbiters alleged 
that Schaedler, who meanwhile had obtained an 
important canonry, had dreams of placing a mitre 
on his head. But he died before obtaining this 



IN THE REICHSTAG 69 

reward for his abdication, which was none the 
less complete. 

What disillusions of the same kind we Deputies 
for Alsace-Lorraine registered during the years 
preceding the war! Hitze, Heim, Gerstenberger 
— so many members of the Centre, who formerly 
seemed to have the highest comprehension and 
keenest sympathy for our claims, — so many poli- 
ticians, either weak or crafty, who were to betray 
us! 

I fear to weary the reader by broadly sketch- 
ing these portraits of German politicians. Never- 
theless, it seems to me that nothing can better 
enable us to understand the transformation which 
the imperialism of Prince von Bulow and his 
successor had brought about in the mentality of 
parliamentarians of all parties. People abroad 
were unable to follow that rapid evolution. Thence 
arose the stupid confidence in which the rivals 
of the Empire lived. In France they had still 
faith in the democracy of Richter, in the social- 
ism of old Liebknecht, and in the strong opposi- 
tion of Windhorst, whereas Miiller-Meiningen, 
Frank, and Spahn had completely overthrown 
the traditions of the national representation of 
Germany. 

However that may be, in spite of certain indi- 
vidual failings, the Reichstag of 1898 was, as re- 



70 BEHIND THE SCENES 

gards the Centre and the Left, that is to say the 
majority, relatively Liberal. Was it particular- 
ist in the same measure? Yes, but the groups 
which watched jealously over the autonomy of the 
States did so for different reasons. 

In fact the Prussian Conservatives, in some 
other ways downright reactionaries, were above all 
anxious to preserve the great kingdom of the north 
from the contagion of southern democracy. They 
hoped, doubtless, that the Prussian hegemony 
would daily spread more and more over the 
States, but they feared that, as a result, the broad- 
er and more popular institutions of the small king- 
doms would exercise an irresistible attraction over 
the middle classes and the people of their country. 
They protested, therefore, with the greatest en- 
ergy against the attempts made by the Reichstag 
to take part in the retrograde policy of Prussia. 
One was always certain of their help when one 
sought to limit the competence of the Empire. 
In conjunction with the Centre and the Demo- 
crats, the Conservatives formed therefore a par- 
ticularist coalition in which the autonomy of the 
States benefited until the time when the adoption 
by all parties of the pan-German programme 
swept away all the old combinations. 

On the other hand, the National-Liberals made 
no mystery of their centralising tendencies, and 



IN THE REICHSTAG 71 

the group of the Extreme Left seconded them 
vigorously in that campaign. 

The Socialists, especially at the time when they 
still believed in the drawing near of the "great 
evening," strove by every means in their power 
to destroy the federal character of the Empire. 

Bebel one day, in one of his fits of brutal frank- 
ness, made the following declaration to me : 

"It was easy for you others, Frenchmen, to 
bring about your revolution. You had only one 
head to cut off. With us we should be obliged to 
cut off twenty-five." 

Nothing is truer. In the southern States the 
dynasties are very popular. The King of Bavaria, 
for instance, who walks about alone in the streets 
of Munich and converses familiarly with the most 
humble passers-by, has nothing to fear from the 
personal hostility of his subjects. Moreover, as 
in the neighbouring States (Wurtemberg, Grand 
Duchy of Baden, Hesse), the Bavarian Lower 
Chamber is elected by universal and secret suf- 
frage. The southerners are unacquainted with 
the regime of privileged castes. There is there- 
fore no reason for, and no possibility of, the party 
of the Extreme Left springing upon these coun- 
tries a revolution, which, on the other hand, would 
be perfectly justified in Prussia and in Saxony. 

It resulted from this, that at the time when the 



72 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Socialists were still frankly Republican they must 
have wished to unify Germany, that is to say first 
of all to limit and then to suppress the autonomy 
of the States, in order to succeed more easily and 
at a single stroke in changing the form of the 
central government. It was necessary to place 
all the German crowns on a single head, to use 
Bebel's image, in order to be able to make them 
fall together by a single blow of the axe. 

It is needless to add that the Socialists of to-day 
have abandoned these intransigent tactics. Since 
Frank was received at the Court of the Grand 
Duke of Baden and the Bavarian companions 
voted the private budget of the kingdom, the Uni- 
tarists formed but a group without* influence in 
the Reichstag. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 73 



CHAPTER IV 

Pen Portraits of Parliamentarians 

The Three Great Leaders of Doctrinal Socialism — Figures 
in the Second Rank — The Polish Group — Miiller-Fulda 
— Comrades — Parliamentary Barriers — Count von Bal- 
lestrem — Official Fetes. 

The forty members of the Extreme Left whom 
I found at Berlin in 1898 were still by an over- 
whelming majority revolutionaries. Bebel was 
then at the height of his ability. An ex- joiner, 
the most brilliant leader of Germanic Socialism 
had, by obstinate work, acquired a varied knowl- 
edge, and as, moreover, he possessed all the natur- 
al gifts of an orator, he exercised a veritable dic- 
tatorship over his party. The faithful guardian 
of the Marxist doctrine, practically all the articles 
of which he sacrificed later, on becoming rich and 
eccentric, he overwhelmed with his anathemas all 
those who dared to contradict him. At that time 
Bernstein, already a Possibilist, passed for a 
heretic and was treated with the utmost severity 
at the party congresses. 

Bebel was a small-statured man, thin, sinewy, 



74 BEHIND THE SCENES 

and with a leonine face. He appeared to be in 
a state of perpetual ebullition. His passionate 
speech and cutting gestures still further accentu- 
ated the perpetually aggressive character of his 
appearance. Standing in the tribune with out- 
stretched arm and his threatening finger pro- 
longed by the pencil which he always held in his 
hand, he delivered against middle-class society 
speeches as interminable as they were passionate, 
and, although his shrill voice was in no way agree- 
able, he put such vigour into what he was saying 
that he was always listened to with sustained in- 
terest. 

Quite different was Liebknecht senior, the 
father of the Deputy who has been so much talked 
about since the beginning of the war. A former 
student of Protestant theology, he had retained 
a modest attitude, a mild voice, and unctuous 
gestures. The contrast between the violence of 
his remarks and the almost bland voice in which 
he uttered them was striking. He was indeed 
the patriarch blessing a doctrine of which Bebel 
was determined to remain the demagogue. 

At that time we occupied, with the Poles, in 
the gallery of the Extreme Left, the seats placed 
above those of the Socialists. Liebknecht, who 
had taken a liking to me, used often to come and 
have a conversation. He had the temperament 



IN THE REICHSTAG 75 

of an apostle. I have retained an excellent recol- 
lection of our always courteous discussions. 

I will record but two characteristic phrases of 
the old Socialist. 

"I have lost all religious faith; but if I became 
a believer again, I should go the whole hog and 
become a Catholic." 

"Here, in the Reichstag, there are but two 
classes of members who are sincerely sympathetic 
towards and active on behalf of the working- 
classes : the Socialists and the priests." 

Singer, the third leader of the group of the 
Extreme Left, was quite a different man. This 
stout personage, with coarse, vulgar features and 
thick voice, was chiefly distinguished for his smil- 
ing scepticism. An ex-manufacturer, to whom 
some people — doubtless wrongly — ascribed sav- 
age behaviour towards his young work-girls, he 
had joined somewhat late a party which knew 
how to profit largely, if not by his eloquence, at 
least by his marvellous ability as an organiser. 

As president of the group, the diplomatist 
Singer calmed all storms, and always found for- 
mulas for compromises between Doctrinaires and 
Revisionists. One never knew to which side his 
preference leaned. Perhaps he himself did not 
know. None the less, by that very fact he ren- 
dered signal services to his party, in which rival- 



76 BEHIND THE SCENES 

ries were so numerous and discussions so bitter. 

In private intercourse Singer was very agree- 
able. There was no trace in him of the fiery 
polemist whose conversation always retains an ag- 
gressive note. He it was who, every time nego- 
tiations with the other leaders of the group were 
necessary, undertook that delicate task. Singer, 
who was a Jew, had a very pronounced Semitic 
face. 

Bernstein, also a Jew, was more delicate in 
appearance and in nature. His accentuated but 
very delicate features, his little, malicious eyes 
and studied speech advantageously distinguished 
him from the vulgar agitators who encumbered 
his party. He often related to me the vicissitudes 
of his adventurous life, his condemnations and 
long exile, in the course of which he spent several 
months at the house of an honest Italian priest. 
From his obligatory travels abroad he had re- 
turned a polyglot and a Possibilist. In 1898 his 
colleagues regarded him with suspicion on account 
of his moderate opinions. At each congress of 
the party the ultras demanded his expulsion. To- 
day Bernstein is considered to be one of the most 
dangerous revolutionaries of German Socialism. 
He has, however, changed nothing, neither in his 
programme nor in his tactics, which were always 
the same. Nothing can inform us better regard- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 77 

ing the complete evolution of the Parliamentary 
group of the Extreme Left. 

To complete my little portrait gallery, I shall 
say a few more words about three men who at 
that time played an important part in the Reichs- 
tag: Rickert, Stoecker, and Arendt. 

The first named — "Handsome Henry" as he 
was called in the lobbies — had long vied with Eu- 
gen Richter for the leadership of the Democratic 
Party. Not having succeeded in eliminating his 
rival, he broke away from him with ten of his 
colleagues, who formed a new group that was 
almost as governmental as the National Liberals. 
Little attention was paid to the speeches of this 
vain but characterless man. 

Stoecker, the former Court preacher, had a 
more accentuated physiognomy. Very particu- 
lar about his personal appearance and an admir- 
able speaker, the chief of the anti-Semitic group 
was one of the most attentively listened to of the 
orators of the Reichstag. An amiable colleague, 
he had many personal friends in the Reichstag, 
not only in the Conservative groups, with which 
he lived on neighbourly terms, but also in the 
other parliamentary groups. I have had many 
political and religious discussions with him. He 
excelled in them, both on account of the wealth 
of his knowledge and because of the pleasing 



78 BEHIND THE SCENES 

courtesy of his argumentation. Stoecker was, 
however, an almost ferocious Imperialist and had 
sworn against the Jews a hatred of disconcerting 
intensity. 

On this subject, I would point out that the 
anti-Semitism of the Prussian Conservatives knew 
no compromise. In the eyes of the Junker, the 
Jew is and remains the most redoubtable enemy. 
I have always been struck by the extreme violence 
of these religious prejudices. The Socialist 
Party was the only one which counted Jews 
among its members. 

Although only recently converted to Christi- 
anity, the joyous Arendt had, however, succeeded 
in entering the group of the Independent Con- 
servatives, of which he was one of the most fluent 
speakers. This man, who had the appearance of 
a tobacco jar perched on two match-stalks and 
surmounted by a deformed lemon, had a specialty. 
A convinced bimetallist, he treated us every year 
to two or three interminable speeches, in order to 
convince us of the necessity of reclassing silver 
among the metals with invariable conventional 
value. 

Arendt, who was constantly the target for the 
gibes of the parties of the Left, provoked these 
retorts by his impudently aggressive eloquence. 
The unfortunate man had formerly had a strange 



IN THE REICHSTAG 79 

misadventure. After having married a bad-dis- 
positioned dressmaker, he decided to divorce her. 
Now, the day after the judgment, his wife stood 
at the members' exit and distributed to them little 
business cards bearing the words, "Mme. Arendt 
recommends her dressmaking establishment to the 
wives of her husband's colleagues." Fortunately 
for the Conservative member, ridicule does not 
yet kill in Germany. 

The Polish members were our neighbours in 
1898. They continued to be when, after the for- 
midable increase in the number of Socialist seats, 
they made us emigrate, whilst still reserving for 
us "the topmost benches," next to the Extreme 
Right. They were all gentlemen and agreeable 
in intercourse, but how unstable and unreliable! 

I have seen them pass from the most revolu- 
tionary opposition to the most tangled govern- 
mentalism, and that from one moment to another, 
without apparent motive. One day they would 
threaten to place bombs under the Chancellor's 
chair; the next they would enthusiastically vote 
in favour of reactionary laws. The prelate 
Jadzewski, one of their most respected leaders, 
was constantly exhibiting these disconcerting 
changes of humour. One could never absolutely 
count on the assistance of these inconstant fel- 
lows. My friend Count Bratowo-Mielzienski, 



80 BEHIND THE SCENES 

who since then was the central figure in a cele- 
brated trial, after having surprised his wife in 
criminal conversation with one of his nephews and 
killed the guilty couple with gunshots, was quite 
as changeable. Sometimes he complacently re- 
lated that the Emperor formerly called him "his 
little grenadier." Then he would display the most 
anti-dynastic feelings. One day he confided to 
me that, having been received in a military club 
in the South of France, he had boxed the ears of 
an officer who was making pacifist remarks. Now 
I learn that, though relieved from military serv- 
ice on account of his age, he voluntarily enlisted 
at the beginning of the war in order to fight 
against the Allies whom he pretended he loved 
so much. 

Another and more painful surprise was reserved 
for me. The president of the Polish group, 
Prince Radziwill, was by far the most respectable 
figure in the Imperial Parliament. When this 
fine old man mounted the tribune to speak of 
the misfortunes of his country it seemed as though 
the whole of martyred Poland was weeping in his 
touching words. Even the Right respected a sor- 
row so nobly expressed. Alas! we have recently 
learnt from the newspapers that Prince Radziwill 
has consented to become the Prime Minister of 
the new Kingdom of Poland, and that he has 



IN THE REICHSTAG 81 

expressed his deepest gratitude to persecuting 
Prussia for the creation of this phantom State. 

Clearly, that ought not to prevent us from 
continuing to show all our sympathy towards a 
nation that has suffered so much and so long. But 
how long a time it will take the Poles, at least 
the governing classes, to recover themselves, to 
think and to act logically and in a manly way! 

Yet the Prussian Government always reserved 
its bitterest hatred for the natives of the "Eastern 
Marches." It would take too long to recall here 
the odious measures of which the Poles were the 
victims : the 700 million marks which the Landtag 
voted for the "colonisation" of Posen by German 
peasants, the interdiction to use the Polish lan- 
guage in the schools and for correspondence, the 
forbidding of Poles to construct houses on their 
lands, and, finally, dispossession. It was Prince 
von Biilow. that so-called gentleman, whose ap- 
parent courtesy ill conceals his savage chauvinism, 
who, despite the opposition of Prussian Conserva- 
tives, had voted by Parliament that Bill of dis- 
possession for national suspicion which represents 
the most abominable wrong against the rights of 
property in modern times. 

The fourth Chancellor of the Empire — we can- 
not too often repeat the fact — was, of all German 
statesmen, the one who, from the national point 



82 BEHIND THE SCENES 

of view, showed the least scruple. Has he not 
cynically confessed in his Memoirs that he knew 
how to make use of the martyrdom of Poland to 
attach, by bonds of complicity, Muscovite Tsar- 
ism to German Imperialism? 

"It is precisely these Polish affairs," he writes, 
"which have often united Prussia and Russia. In 
the Polish danger there is a warning to the two 
Empires not to fall out, but to regard their com- 
mon defence against the ambitious aspirations of 
the Poles as a bridge on which Prussia and Rus- 
sia can always meet." 

Prussian duplicity in its entirety is revealed in 
these phrases, written but a few months before 
the war. And to think that Prince Radziwill and 
his colleagues in the Reichstag had read Prince 
von Billow's declarations when they made their 
last and most surprising evolution! 

How right Korfantry was not to wish to be 
confounded with these puppets! The young Po- 
lish Deputy (he belonged to the Reichstag during 
only two legislatures) passed for a revolutionary. 
This tall, fair young man with ungainly carriage 
and sonorous voice was, however, very moderate 
in his opinions. On the other hand, he knew noth- 
ing of Jadzewski's clever bargainings and contra- 
dictory attitudes, and he expressed his surprise 
and disgust at them in stinging terms. Thence his 



IN THE REICHSTAG 83 

troubles. He was wrongly accused of being sym- 
pathetic towards Socialism. He was simply de- 
fending the interests of a nation with whose suf- 
ferings he was acquainted against the weakness 
of a nobility whose egoism shocked him. 

I have yet to speak of a man who, although his 
name has rarely appeared in the newspapers, was 
one of the prime movers of the Imperial Parlia- 
ment — Miiller-Fulda, a member of the Centre. 
This tall, skinny fellow, with sparse beard and 
mocking eye, had the appearance of a faun. The 
son of a small manufacturer, he went abroad when 
fifteen years of age to study the manufacturing 
processes and commercial methods of the English 
and French. When quite young, he then became 
the manager of a carpet factory and rapidly grew 
rich. When the electors of Fulda sent him to 
the Reichstag they made a particularly happy 
choice, for Muller was an accomplished man of 
business. 

Politics interested him, however, only as a 
puppet-show. Like a child, he amused himself 
in the lobbies with combinations, which he en- 
deavoured to complicate for the simple pleasure 
of doing so. Only economic questions retained 
his attention. For the others he had nothing save 
mischievous smiles. 

On my arrival in Berlin, I had put up at the 



84 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Central Hotel. Muller-Fulda had also made it his 
headquarters. He took upon himself to see to 
my Parliamentary education. I took my break- 
fast with him every morning; then, together, we 
proceeded to the Reichstag, where we were gen- 
erally the first to enter the writing-room. He 
applied himself to shattering my last illusions 
regarding the German Parliamentary regime. 

"Above all," he said to me, "attach no impor- 
tance to the noisy declarations and tragic gestures 
of speakers on the occasion of the first reading of 
a Bill. All the work of the Reichstag is done 
behind the scenes. Our party leaders are augurs 
who have learnt to look at each other in public 
assembly without laughing; but, surrounded by 
the mystery of their private confabs, they are 
hand and glove together. I know it because I'm 
one of them. Everything is compromise with us. 
We set up a noisy opposition only to obtain privi- 
leges. The Chancellor plays upon his winnings 
with parties which are quarrelling over his fa- 
vours, and with leaders who are always ready 
to sell themselves. If you are wise, you Alsace- 
Lorrainers, you will obtain everything you want. 
Be awkward in public, but know how to fix a price 
afterwards for your assistance. And, above all, 
don't be simpletons. The Reichstag is composed 
of three dozen skilful and clever men and three 



IN THE REICHSTAG 85 

hundred and fifty idiots, who are indifferent to 
the progress of business. Our leaders endeavour 
to surround themselves only with mediocrities, in 
order to be sure of having no rivals. The fewer 
members there are in Berlin, the happier they 
are, since that enables them to devote themselves 
to their little manoeuvres far from all control. All 
are in continuous relations with the Wilhelm- 
strasse, which knows their ambitions and how to 
play with them skilfully. People abroad believe 
that we possess a national representation. But 
we have only a handful of operetta conspirators, 
whom an enlightened stage-manager directs as he 
thinks fit. With us, such big words as ministerial 
responsibility, liberty, and democracy have no 
meaning. Heydebrandt fiercely mounts guard 
over Conservative privileges. Bassermann and 
Spahn envy him and would have their share of 
the cake. Richter and Bebel are listened to; but 
nobody, not even the simple soldiers of their party, 
follows them when they try to provoke reaction 
in the masses, and they are too intelligent not to 
see it. We are a nation of valets and slaves, 
whose mind has been prepared for all forms of 
servitude by intellectuals, domesticated and above 
all greedy for honours and distinctions. Every- 
thing is foolish verbosity in our Parliamentary 
struggles. Don't listen to speeches, which will 



86 BEHIND THE SCENES 

make you believe there is a conscious and deter- 
mined opposition. Rather observe the secret 
meetings of the party leaders among themselves 
and with the collaborators of the Chancellor. It's 
there that the practical work is done." 

Miiller-Fulda was right. After having freely 
insulted each other from the tribune, Heyde- 
brandt, Bassermann, Spahn, Hertling, and all the 
other holders of leading parts in Parliament as- 
sembled in the committee-rooms, or walked in 
friendly intercourse about the lobbies, and from 
these long and mysterious conversations there al- 
most always sprang compromises in which the 
Chancellor had collaborated. The three readings 
of an important Bill always gave us the same 
chromatic scale. First reading: furious declara- 
tions and the solemn announcement of an opposi- 
tion that nothing would shatter. Second read- 
ing: a scattered retreat on a barely modified text, 
but with a few noisy counter-attacks. Third read- 
ing : a perfect understanding, general embracings, 
reciprocal congratulations, and unanimous ap- 
plause. 

Here is one of a hundred examples. When 
William II determined to devote himself heart 
and soul to world-politics (it was in 1901) it was 
decided to double the navy. This plan of re- 
modelling the fleet, which was to be terminated in 



IN THE REICHSTAG 87 

1916, included the creation of a squadron of big 
ironclads, in addition to six guardships and com- 
plementary units. 

When the Bill appeared, there was a tremen- 
dous uproar in the whole of the Press of the Centre 
and Left. They were about to fall out with 
England, definitely compromise the finances of 
the Empire, weaken the army, and increase the 
load of taxation. The English, moveover, would 
never permit Germany to recover the formidable 
advance they had made and which they would be 
mad not to wish to maintain. And the refrain of 
all these articles, in which the opponents developed 
their arguments with extraordinary violence, was 
always the same, "Not a pfennig for this wild 
enterprise." 

Miiller-Fulda was as amused as a little madcap 
over all this incendiary literature, and still more 
so when he saw me devote serious attention to 
it. One morning, whilst we were having our coffee 
together, he confided in me as follows : 

"My poor Wetter le, you are really too simple. 
All this is but a sudden blaze. From this very 
moment the Chancellor is sure of obtaining all he 
wants, and even more. The compromise has been 
accepted by all the bourgeois groups. Tirpitz is 
sacrificing the guardships, of which he has no 
need, and which he only put down on his pro- 



88 BEHIND THE SCENES 

gramme in order to have the air of making a 
concession to the Opposition. As to the squadron 
of ironclads, the complementary ships, and the 
replacing of out-of-date boats by more modern and 
more powerful units, they will grant him them by 
an overwhelming majority. A formal promise has 
been given him by the party leaders." 

This time I thought that Muller-Fulda was 
making fun of me. With such a devil of a man 
you never knew where you were. And, indeed, 
it looked, at first, as though my distrust was justi- 
fied, for during several weeks the deafening up- 
roar continued in the Press, and, at the time of the 
first reading of the Bill, the speakers of the Centre 
and the Left seemed to wish to increase it still 
further by their fiery declarations. 

The second act of the comedy, the scenario of 
which Miiller had complacently related to me be- 
forehand, took place at a secret meeting of the 
Budget Committee. All Parliamentary repre- 
sentatives may attend these secret meetings. The 
chairman confines himself to recalling the fact 
that they are placed on their honour to reveal 
nothing of what they hear to the newspapers. 
There was, therefore, a crowd in the committee- 
room. I was there. The discussion was at first 
harsh and violent. Admiral Tirpitz vigorously 



IN THE REICHSTAG 89 

defended his plan ; but they hardly listened to his 
technical developments. All eyes were fixed on 
Prince von Biilow, then Secretary of State at the 
Foreign Office, who seemed to bear on his broad 
shoulders the weight of an overwhelming secret. 
The proceedings had dragged out for two hours 
when Prince von Biilow asked to speak. His 
speech was very short. Delivered in a low, eager 
voice, with intentional slowness and restrained 
emotion, it may be summed up in these few words : 

"Take care! — the whole future of the Empire is 
at stake. The confession is hard to make, but it 
must be made, in order to overcome your thought- 
less resistance. War with England is not only a 
possibility, it is probable . . . and near. Is it 
your desire, in the face of this urgent danger, that 
we should be completely disarmed?" 

Dead silence followed these declarations of the 
prudent diplomatist. The Committee broke up. 
Anxiety could be read on every face. During the 
plenary sitting, the members, forming little ani- 
mated groups, discussed with bated breath, in the 
lobbies, the terrible declarations of Prince von 
Biilow. A large number of naval officers were, 
as though by chance, in the large outer hall. These 
were buttonholed and questioned regarding the 
danger of British aggression, whereupon they 



90 BEHIND THE SCENES 

complacently drew wild comparisons between the 
two navies. 1 

The next day the tone of the newspapers had 
completely changed. Almost without transition, 
the Press of the Centre and the Left admitted the 
necessity for increasing the fighting units, and 
concentrated its rearguard cannonade on the un- 
fortunate guardships, which Tirpitz did not want 
for the time being, because the naval yards could 
not have built them at the same time as the 
squadron of big ironclads. 

"Well," said Miiller-Fulda to me, after glanc- 
ing through the morning papers, "will you believe 
me another time when I tell you that everything is 
trickery and deceit in our parliamentary life?" 

The Bill, indeed, was passed by an overwhelm- 
ing majority at its second and third readings. 
Tirpitz shed a crocodile tear over the six boats 
refused him — and the trick was played. As to the 
German people, it had been unable to make out a 
thing. Once more its "representatives" had 
grossly deceived it. 

Ought we to be surprised at this ? No ; because 
the atmosphere of the old Reichstag was naturally 
debilitating. As I have said above, barely sixty 

1 Large charts indicating the comparative strengths of all 
the navies of the world were hung at this time in the lobbies 
of the Reichstag. They were signed: Wilhelm I.h. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 91 

representatives regularly attended the sittings. 
Among these initiates, who belonged to the big 
committees, bonds of great intimacy had of in- 
evitable necessity been established. In the eyes of 
these conspirators, the people no longer existed. 
All their cerebral activity was used up in the 
game of interfractional combinations. Once they 
had crossed the threshold of their palace, they 
thought only of their petty rivalries and ambitions. 
Collaboration with the Chancellor and his Secre- 
taries of State became a sort of friendly game at 
chess at a private club. They settled their ac- 
counts among themselves, without troubling their 
heads over what the great public might think. 
Besides, did this public exist? Had it an opinion 
of its own? Could they not always, by the skilful 
use of a Press which blindly accepted their orders, 
lead it to burn to-day what it had worshipped yes- 
terday? 

In all Parliaments personal relations among 
members sometimes produce strange reconcilia- 
tions. At Berlin these were the rule, at least 
among party leaders. The pride that a little 
official, like Miiller-Meiningen, feels in being able 
to chat familiarly with the Chancellor and the 
leading officials of the Empire, the vanity that a 
Spahn, of middle-class origin, experiences on be- 
ing treated as a friend by the least approachable 



92 BEHIND THE SCENES 

of the Junker caste, the fear of conflicts which in 
the past always ended to the advantage of the 
Government, are so many factors which do not 
count in democratic countries, but which in the 
Reichstag provoke the worst weaknesses. 

The small fry among the representatives — those 
who were fated merely to line the walls — do not 
enjoy the same privileges as the chairmen and 
members of the committees of the Parliamentary 
fractions. They never have the honour of speak- 
ing either to the members of the Government or 
to those of the Federal Council. They are penned 
up as insignificant. I shall always recollect with 
pleasure the stupefaction of these poor sheepish 
beings and the indignation of their shepherds 
when, during a plenary sitting, I mounted to 
the podium, where the Chancellor and his collabo- 
rators were, to converse with them about a current 
topic. My audacity seemed scandalous to them. 

When I first entered the Reichstag, one of the 
leaders of the Centre thought fit to make me 
acquainted with the traditions of the House. "You 
must have personal relations," he said, "only with 
your political friends. Only the party leaders 
negotiate with the Government and the members 
of the other groups." 

I respectfully pointed out to Herr Groeber (for 
it was he who gave me that strange advice) that, 



IN THE REICHSTAG 93 

as I belonged to no fraction, I intended to retain 
my entire liberty, and that I was determined to 
make what use of it I pleased. And, indeed, 
during the sixteen years I was in the Reichstag, 
I frequented indifferently my colleagues of all 
parties, to the great indignation of the members 
of the Centre, who thoughl they had the right to 
control the Alsace-Lorraine representatives, be- 
cause, in religious and social questions, our votes 
generally counted with theirs. 

There are barriers between the Parliamentary 
groups which the party leaders can alone sur- 
mount. For instance, in the Reichstag restaurant 
each party has its regularly appointed table. The 
Conservatives and the members of the Govern- 
ment even occupy a special room, which custom 
forbade us to enter. The table reserved for the 
representatives of Alsace-Lorraine and the Poles 
was between that of the National-Liberals and that 
of the Centre. It was called the corner of "the 
enemies of the Empire." Sometimes a member of 
the Centre invited us to sit near him, but that 
was always exceptional. I had thus the honour, 
on several occasions, of lunching with Count von 
Ballestrem, who at that time was President of 
the Reichstag. 

A wealthy mine-owner, belonging to the old 
Silesian nobility, Count von Ballestrem was an 



94 BEHIND THE SCENES 

amiable man, possessed of gTeat skill. Every 
time the proceedings became stormy he knew how 
to tranquillise the members' passions by a cordial 
or witty intervention. He was not appreciated 
at his just value until replaced by Count von S toll- 
berg- Wernigerode and later by the Democrat 
Kaempf, who were both powerless to master the 
assembly. 

Count von Ballestrem showed great ability in 
the use of smiling irony. In his personal relations 
with his colleagues he gave proof of the most 
friendly simplicity. One day I was violently at- 
tacked from the tribune by a Conservative. Now, 
as the cycle of speakers was closed, it was impos- 
sible for me to reply to my contradictor, so I went 
and complained to Count von Ballestrem. He 
said to me: 

"Ask permission to speak, in order to make a 
personal remark. Carefully prepare your reply, 
which must be short. You must deliver it very 
quickly and in an undertone. I shall lend an ear 
to what you are saying, but shall not hear you 
until your rectification is sufficiently comprehen- 
sible. I shall then point out that you are over- 
stepping the limits of a personal explanation and 
shall withdraw your right of speech." 

Which was done. 

The President of the Reichstag had taken part 



IN THE REICHSTAG 95 

in the 1870 campaign as a captain on the Staff. 
He liked to relate how, every time it was possible, 
he had tried to diminish the sufferings of the popu- 
lations of the invaded countries. 

Very jealous of the rare privileges of the 
Reichstag, he never failed to intervene when the 
officials violated them. On the occasion of the 
fetes given in honour of the coming-of-age of the 
Crown Prince, it was decided that our cards as 
representatives should serve as permits to pass 
all barriers established by the police. Wishing to 
cross the Linden, which was forbidden to the 
crowd, I was nevertheless stopped near the 
Brandenburg Gate by an officer. It was necessary 
for me to make a detour, in order to find a more 
obliging member of the police. The next day I 
mentioned this incident to Count von Ballestrem. 
He insisted on having the police officer who had 
shown lack of respect to a Parliamentary repre- 
sentative punished, and he succeeded in doing so. 

On the other hand, the President of the Reichs- 
tag was very attached to out-of-date formulas, 
which on one occasion served him a bad turn. In 
an address to the Emperor he so far forgot himself 
one day as to use the words "Ich ersterbe zu 
Fiissen Euerer Majestat" ("I expire at Your 
Majesty's feet"). The journals of the Left pro- 
tested most violently against this servile phrase, 



96 BEHIND THE SCENES 

whilst the satirical organs covered it with ridicule. 

He was, however, a Monarchist of the old 
school, and though, as the master of numerous 
Polish workmen, he possessed a certain compre- 
hension of the complaints of the oppressed 
nationalities, he was ever trying to win us over 
to the cause of the Empire. Although tall and 
rather massive, he was not lacking in distinction, 
and he never departed from the most prepossess- 
ing politeness, even when the natural impetuosity 
of his temperament led him into fiery discussions. 
Since Simons, the Reichstag had never known so 
remarkable a President. s 

I have just spoken of the fetes on the coming- 
of-age of the Crown Prince. Several Sovereigns 
were expected in Berlin on that occasion. I went 
to the Anhalt railway station to witness the arrival 
of the Emperor of Austria. I had been told that 
the sight would be interesting. There were twenty 
of us on the steps when Francis Joseph's special 
train arrived. After the two Sovereigns had em- 
braced several times, they passed the guard of 
honour in review. Now, each of the sections of 
this guard was commanded by one of the young 
brothers of the Prince Imperial. All the men of 
the guard were giants. When the time came for 
them to march past, I witnessed the most gro- 
tesque scene I have ever contemplated in my life. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 97 

The princes, each placed in front of one of the 
sections, raised their stiffened legs to the height of 
their chins in order to maintain the regulation dis- 
tance between their men and themselves. The two 
Emperors, on seeing the poor lads, and especially 
the ten-year-old Prince Oscar, execute a review 
step so utterly ridiculous, laughed until the tears 
rolled down their cheeks. 

Alas! Francis Joseph no longer laughed a 
few moments later when the carriages crossed at 
a trot the Koniggratzerstrasse, that is to say the 
street the insolent name of which recalled his 
bloody defeat of 1866 and the savage spoliation 
which followed. A few Berlin newspapers were 
vaguely conscious of the lack of tact of which the 
Prussian Government was guilty towards the 
aged Emperor, and proposed that the name of the 
avenue be changed ; but the pan- Germans, already 
very powerful at that time, were passionately op- 
posed to it. 



98 BEHIND THE SCENES 



CHAPTER V 

Foreign Politics 

Premonitions of War — Finlanders and Alsace-Lorrainers. 

A fact that always struck me in the Reichstag 
was the profound ignorance of my colleagues- 
even the most intelligent — as regards foreign poli- 
tics. Neither Heydebrandt, nor Spahn, nor 
Bassermann, nor even Richter was capable of 
checking the information supplied by the Chan- 
cellor, or which came from the large patriotic 
associations. There were no readers for the 
English, French, and Italian papers, with which 
the reading-room was abundantly supplied. Only 
the Poles and the representatives of Alsace-Lor- 
raine perused them. 

During the sixteen years I was in the Reichstag 
I noted but one exception to this rule. Herr von 
Stollberg-Wernigerode, the President who fol- 
lowed Count von Ballestrem, came every morning 
at 10 o'clock to take Le Figaro and Le Nouvelliste 
d' Alsace-Lorraine from the reading-room. He 
even deigned one day to express to me the pleasure 
he took in reading my journal. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 99 

The Imperial Government had a splendid op- 
portunity of directing its foreign policy as it liked, 
in a Parliament where all the parties accorded it 
their confidence so liberally. The most hazardous 
affirmations of the Chancellor were accepted with- 
out the least examination. The solemn speech 
which Prince von Biilow or Herr von Bethmann- 
Hollweg delivered every year when the Budget of 
Foreign Affairs came on for its second reading 
was without doubt the great event of the session; 
but the Governmental orator was always the only 
speaker, or when, perchance, leaders of groups 
rose to speak after him, it was only to complete 
his declarations by information which, to the 
knowledge of everyone, had been supplied them 
by the Foreign Office. This abdication of Parlia- 
ment was both a strength and a weakness. The 
nation and its representatives formed a block 
before the foreigner, but, on the other hand, the 
Emperor and the Chancellor, unhampered in their 
movements, could lead the country into the worst 
complications, without public opinion being able 
to react. 

If the Reichstag went to meet this servitude, the 
Press was obliged to accept it. Every morning 
the contributors to the Berlin newspapers and the 
correspondents of the big provincial dailies called 
at a fixed hour at the offices of the Wilhelmstrasse, 



100 BEHIND THE SCENES 

where an official of the Foreign Office gave them 
an account of the exterior situation of the Empire. 
Woe to him who, in his articles, did not keep to in- 
structions! He was immediately excluded from 
these instructive conferences and deprived of the 
official manna. Consequently the newspapers 
always struck with perfect accord the Govern- 
mental note. This impressive unanimity often 
deceived the foreigner, by making him believe that 
Germany's policy came from the soul of the 
people. Now, if it is true that, during recent 
years, the German people, subjected to methodical 
training, have supported all the wild claims of 
pan-Germanism, we should be wrong in supposing 
that,, more free and better advised, it would have 
been incapable of respecting the rights of other 
nationalities. 

Naturally gregarious, and trained from child- 
hood in the practice of the most rigid intellectual 
discipline, the German accepts the ready-made 
formulas imposed upon him. Subjected to a 
democratic regime, he might, perhaps, in time 
recover his individuality; but before 1914 he was 
acquainted with only blind submission to the guid- 
ance of his rulers and their inspirers, the pan- 
Germans. 

The stupidities I have heard concerning foreign 
politics during the sixteen years I was in the 



IN THE REICHSTAG 101 

Reichstag are hardly believable. My colleagues 
spoke of France with disdainful pity. This un- 
fortunate country was in a state of complete de- 
composition. With the complicity of a venal 
administration and a rotten Parliament, every 
vice was displayed there. There was no longer 
either religion, or morals, or shame. Our litera- 
ture was tainted, our middle-classes were cruelly 
egoistic, and our army was without discipline. 
The old Latin civilisation, already so compro- 
mised in dirty Italy and backward Spain, was 
submerged by a fetid mud in that "beautiful 
France," where, however, she had formerly shone 
with such brilliance. 

"Beware!" I often used to say to Erzberger 
when he treated me to these stereotyped phrases ; 
"France is the country of sudden awakenings, of 
prodigious resurrections." 

"Nonsense!" he replied in his passionate voice. 
"We'll overthrow your idol with our little finger. 
And look out for breakages. It will be not five 
but fifty thousand millions of francs we shall exact 
from the conquered, and we shall impose upon her 
a treaty of commerce which will paralyse her for 
a century." 

This threat always recurred in my colleagues ' 
conversations when they spoke of France. In their 
malevolent phrases one could detect both base 



102 BEHIND THE SCENES 

envy and the most savage covetousness. Never- 
theless, the brilliance of French culture filled semi- 
barbaric Germany with respect. At the same 
time the legendary wealth of the rival country ex- 
ercised an irresistible attraction on the pillagers of 
the North. 

Every time that German diplomacy received a 
check, France, "eaten up with a desire for re- 
venge," was made responsible for it. "There 
would be no peace in Europe until the eternal 
mar- joy had been reduced to impotence." 

It is a curious thing that, as soon as a conflict 
arose, whether it came from the direction of Rus- 
sia, the protector of the Slavs, or from that of 
England, anxious to retain the command of the 
seas, all the members of the Reichstag immedi- 
ately began to speak impudently of "France, the 
hostage." Thus, during the early years of the 
reign of Edward VII, when it seemed as though 
any durable reconciliation with the Anglo-Saxons 
had become impossible, it was currently said in 
the Reichstag, "Very well! Our fleet will cer- 
tainly be blockaded in our ports, but, whether 
France wishes to join with England or not, we 
shall secure guarantees on her territory. She it 
is who will pay the expenses of the enterprise." 

Frenchmen were thus to bear the responsibility 
and suffer the consequences of everything un- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 103 

pleasant which happened to the Germanic Empire. 
Hatred of the English broke out among the Ger- 
mans only later, when, under the inspiration of 
Prince von Biilow, the magic word of "world 
politics" (Weltpolitik) became the motto of 
William II. 

How many times I have heard that flaming 
word, which henceforth was to galvanise the whole 
nation, repeated in the lobbies of the Reichstag! 
Weltpolitik; that signified the domination of the 
entire universe. "Nothing must happen in the 
world," the Emperor had proudly declared, "be- 
fore Germany has said her word." And the 
whole nation docilely repeated his arrogant words. 

But, to attain the desired end, it was necessary 
that Germany, already possessing the strongest 
army, should also have a first-rate navy. It was 
by waving that bawble Weltpolitik that Prince 
von Biilow obtained the vote for enormous naval 
credits. 

However, they abstained from provoking Eng- 
land until the hour came when the Empire could 
measure itself with her on the seas. The Chancel- 
lor had given the instructions — "No difficulties 
with Great Britain until our naval constructions 
are finished." And the docile members of the 
Reichstag repeated in the lobbies, "We will settle 
accounts with the English, but first of all we must 



104 BEHIND THE SCENES 

send them to sleep with friendly declarations, so 
that they will not profit by their formidable ad- 
vance. The awakening will be all the ruder for 
them when, having got up to them or outstripped 
them, we speak with the master's voice." These 
remarks were made openly. It is rather surpris- 
ing that their echo did not reach the islanders, 
especially at the time when Viscount Haldane 
tried to obtain an Anglo-German maritime con- 
vention relative to the limitation of naval con- 
structions, and when Germany, after long and 
painful negotiations, refused to accept the British 
principle of "two flags." 

In his Memoirs, Prince von Biilow confesses 
with supreme effrontery that such was indeed his 
policy. 

"Supported to-day by a respectable navy," he 
writes, "we are, as regards England, in a different 
position from what we were in fifteen years ago, 
when it was necessary for us, as much as possible, 
to avoid a conflict with that Power, until we had 
built our fleet." 

What chiefly struck me in the conversations 
which I had with my colleagues of all parties was 
the profound disdain these ignorant men pro- 
fessed for the allies of their country. To hear 
them talk, Austria, a Slavonicised Power, could 
only regain its ancient splendour through Prus- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 105 

sian discipline. The whole of Germany laughed 
over the lesson which William II gave Francis 
Joseph when, meeting the heir to the Crown of the 
Hapsburgs at the funeral of the Prince Regent of 
Bavaria, the Emperor said to the Archduke: 

"You are making a good deal of noise with my 
big sabre." 

Was it not the duty of Germany's "brilliant 
second" to accept without control the orders of 
Berlin? 

As to the Italians, there was not an insult they 
did not heap upon them. These "macaroni- 
eaters" and "guitar-players" were decidedly in- 
supportably conceited. They owed everything to 
Germany — both their national security and eco- 
nomic prosperity. At the first "waltz" they 
would indeed make them feel it. 

At the time of the Tripoli expedition, the Ger- 
man Press, on the order of the Chancellor, for 
weeks called the Italians ruffians, pirates, and 
wreckers. Erzberger foamed with rage at the 
thought that the only Turkish province where 
Germany could hope to gain a foothold on the 
shores of the Mediterranean was about to fall into 
the hands of those "wretched fellows of Rome." 
It was on hearing these wild invectives that I 
judged of the appetite of pan-Germanism, of that 
monstrous doctrine which excludes even Ger- 



106 BEHIND THE SCENES 

many's allies from the benefit of future conquests. 

Let us once more note moreover that there is not 
a man in the Reichstag capable of resisting the 
official doctrine, and that all the members, even 
those who belong to the governing elite, merely 
repeat over and over again the ready-made phrases 
of the Press inspired by the offices of the Wilhelm- 
strasse. 

Here is a suggestive fact which proves how 
gregarious a people the Germans are. When 
Edward VII and the Queen of England con- 
sented, after a long family disagreement, to pay 
an official visit to their Imperial nephew in the 
Prussian capital, the reception prepared for them 
in Berlin surpassed in brilliance and enthusiasm 
everything I had seen up to then. A few days 
before, the Prussian newspapers were still over- 
flowing with insults to wicked England, whose 
intention was "to encircle" Germany. They were 
now filled with frenzied articles celebrating the 
return of their "blood relations" to the homeland. 
In the streets, brilliantly decorated with flags, the 
crowd vociferated tremendous "Hochs." Gar- 
lands of red, white, and blue paper, suspended 
from the trees in the Unter den Linden, formed 
a veritable canopy under which the promenaders 
joyously chatted about the promising perspective 
of an Anglo- German Alliance. With what end- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 107 

less exclamations the people of Berlin welcomed 
their guests of a day! 

I amused myself on that occasion by recalling, 
in my paper, that, after Jena, the Prussians had 
received their conqueror of the day before with 
the same signs of joy, and that already in those 
days they had decorated the lime trees of their 
celebrated avenue with paper leaves and flowers, 
a symbol of their platitude and bad taste. That 
brought me a tremendous slating in the semi- 
official Press. It is true that, a few weeks later, 
fresh instructions having been given, the same 
Press resumed its old surly tone towards England. 

I also wish to point out that until 1911 German 
policy, whilst aggressive, did not seem to tend 
towards the coming war. The events in the Bal- 
kans, in the course of which Germany was con- 
stantly checked by England's policy, gave birth, 
first of all in official circles and then in parliamen- 
tary ones, to the desire to start the great world 
conflict with as little delay as possible. From 
that date war was spoken of in the Reichstag as an 
irresistible eventuality. Consequently, the mili- 
tary Bills brought before Parliament three years 
in succession, and which strengthened the army to 
the extent of a third of its effective in time of 
peace, at the very moment when the finances of 
the Empire were in a most lamentable condition, 



108 BEHIND THE SCENES 

were passed by overwhelming majorities. Offi- 
cial spokesmen, as well as those of the bourgeois 
parties, frankly spoke from the tribune of the 
"struggle on two fronts" (the French front and 
the Russian). They openly counted on English 
neutrality and the tardy but certain assistance of 
Italy. 

As it was necessary to have a pretext for letting 
loose the storm at the moment chosen by the 
General Staff, German statesmen constantly 
strove to have two or three reasons for a conflict 
in reserve, such as the Balkanic imbroglio, the 
Moroccan affair, and, last but not least, the For- 
eign Legion. 

Bassermann had made a speciality of this last- 
named pretext for a German quarrel. This 
Mannheim lawyer was seized with veritable attacks 
of hysteria when he spoke of the tortures inflicted 
on soldiers of the Legion of Germanic birth by 
the French galley-sergeants. For month after 
month, under the direction of this experienced 
conductor of the orchestra, the Press reproduced 
the most improbable stories anent the martyrdom 
of the poor victims of welche barbarity, who, how- 
ever, ought to have been regarded by the Ger- 
mans as mere vulgar deserters. Even the stage 
seized hold of this melodramatic subject. France 
was literally dragged in the mud by all the scrib- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 109 

biers and mummers of the Empire. If the assas- 
sination of Francis Ferdinand had not precipi- 
tated the march of events, it is probable that 
Germany would have called upon France to dis- 
band the Legion. A pretext for war, henceforth 
desired by everyone in Germany, was necessary. 
In one way or another, they would have found it. 

I am not writing thoughtlessly. Since 1913 
we all had the almost physical impression that the 
great crisis was near at hand. This is so true 
that my colleagues of the Strassburg Parliament 
all began to hoard gold at that time. In paying 
for their smallest purchases they presented 100- 
mark notes, so as to obtain coin, which they put on 
one side for bad times. 

I had the opportunity several times of warning 
my friends in France of the danger that threat- 
ened them. Few were those who paid attention 
to my cry of alarm. And yet all the signs of the 
evil intentions of Germany were there. Was not 
Erzberger applauded by the entire Reichstag 
when he stated, in the face of all evidence, that the 
last increase in the German effective was a 
"reply" to the voting of the three years' Military 
service Bill by the French Parliament? 

This same Erzberger, as well as Oertel and 
Bassermann, had often said to me: 

"In 1905 we missed a unique opportunity of 



110 BEHIND THE SCENES 

finishing with France, then completely disarmed." 

In the country of all these freebooters there 
was always the same eager desire — to enslave and 
despoil "the hereditary enemy." 

The inexperience of the German Parliamentary 
representatives in matters of foreign politics will 
be clearly seen from the following case. Ten years 
ago, a few Democrats (certainly in agreement 
with the Chancellor) circulated in the Reichstag 
a petition addressed to the Duma, urgently beg- 
ging their Russian colleagues to grant a broader 
autonomy to Finland. 

When Miiller-Meiningen presented this peti- 
tion to me, I said to him, "My dear colleague, I 
will sign this paper on the day you authorise the 
French Chamber to ask the Reichstag, officially, 
to put an end to the servitude of the inhabitants of 
Alsace-Lorraine." Old Miiller is still running 
around. 

It was doubtless to avenge his discomfiture on 
that occasion that he took charge, in 1915, of the 
report on my expulsion from the Reichstag. 

The histoiy of this report is amusing. Miiller- 
Meiningen, in order to deprive me legally of my 
seat, could find but a single argument. "Since 
the beginning of the war," it ran, "Wetterle has 
published in French newspapers several articles 
signed 'An Ex-member of the Reichstag,' which 



IX THE REICHSTAG 111 

shows that he himself no longer considers he be- 
longs to this Parliament. One can, therefore, 
conclude that he has handed in his resignation as 
a member in a regular manner." The Reichstag 
accepted this extraordinary reasoning and I was 
deprived of my seat. 

But I had another seat — that of a Deputy in the 
Alsace-Lorraine Chamber. In this country of 
the Empire, it is not Parliament but the Court of 
Appeal of Colmar which decides regarding the 
validity of mandates. Instructed about my case 
by the President of the Second Chamber, the 
Court of Appeal, in its turn, pronounced for- 
feiture, but for reasons of propriety. "A man 
against whom an action for high treason is pend- 
ing," ran the judgment, "cannot belong to a 
German Parliament." The interesting point, 
however, about this affair is that the Court of 
Appeal, in its long statement of reasons, refutes 
Muller-Meiningen's argumentation. "We should 
be wrong in considering that the fact of Wetterle 
having written articles signed with the signature 
'An Ex-member of the Reichstag' constitutes a 
regular resignation. To be valid, a resignation 
must be addressed to the President of the Assem- 
bly, and be signed by the resigner's own hand." 
I should never have thought the judges of Colmar 
were capable of giving the Reichstag such a lesson. 



112 BEHIND THE SCENES 



CHAPTER VI 

Pan- Germanism 

Without Rights — Duplicate Majorities — Kaempf and 
Paasche — The Empire and the Colonies — The Pan-Ger- 
mans — Prince von Hohenlohe — Composition of the 
Reichstag — Faking the Budget. 

Parliamentarism is but a fiction in Germany. 
Doubtless the rules of the Reichstag anticipate the 
members' right of initiative. Yet this right re- 
mained until recent years purely fictitious. In- 
deed, when an interpellation was being discussed, 
the Government benches were almost always 
empty, the Chancellor and his collaborators show- 
ing by their voluntary absence that in principle 
they did not consider they were obliged to hold 
themselves at the disposal of members in order 
to reply to indiscreet questions. As, in conse- 
quence, debates on an interpellation could not end 
in the voting of an order of the day, these talks 
were without object. The Reichstag understood 
this so well that it set aside one day per week 
(Schwerinstag — Schwerin's day — named after 



IN THE REICHSTAG 113 

the author of the proposal) for these sterile exer- 
cises in parliamentary eloquence. 

In 1911, at the time the rules were revised, the 
members thought they had scored an enormous 
success when the Chancellor agreed that interpel- 
lations should be concluded with a vote of appro- 
bation or censure. But as this vote in no way 
either consolidated or shook the Government, the 
concession was a purely formal one. 

Private Bills generally met with the same fate 
as interpellations. It was necessary that they 
should all be laid on the table within the first week 
of the Parliamentary session, numbered according 
to the importance attached to them by their au- 
thors. This being done, the director classified 
them, not in accordance with their urgency, but 
in the order of the numerical importance of the 
group which had presented them, at the rate of one 
Bill for every group. On coming to the end of 
the first round, they passed to the second, and so 
on in succession. These Bills, even when they 
obtained a majority in the Reichstag, were rarely 
accepted by the Federal Council, which generally 
treated them with disdain, for it hardly took the 
trouble to read them. The improvisations of 
Parliament, I delight in recollecting, often merit 
no better fate. 

It was thus that the Centre, after the scandal 



114 BEHIND THE SCENES 

caused by the Heintze case, took it into its head 
to modify the legislation regarding licentiousness 
in the streets. That honest man Roehren had 
been entrusted with the drawing up of the Bill. 
He thought he had solved the problem in fifty 
laboriously drawn-up clauses, in which he 
imagined he had foreseen everything. Unfortu- 
nately, this complicated structure rested on the 
fragile basis of the sense of shame, which is very 
variable. In reference to it, Groeber, of the Cen- 
tre, made the following interesting disclosure: 

"Only the French know how to draw up Bills. 
For instance, take the Berenger Law. It consists 
of only five lines, but it enables you to reach all 
offenders. We try to include all possibilities in 
the Bill itself, instead of leaving the estimation of 
them to jurisprudence. Thence spring compli- 
cated and almost always inapplicable texts. The 
trees end by preventing us seeing the forest. 
Study the Roehren Bill. Its meshes are numer- 
ous and close, and yet it lets all the big fish es- 
cape." 

The debates on the "Heintze Bill" (as it was 
generally called, after the name of the souteneur 
who had led to it being brought in) were extra- 
ordinary. There was a secret sitting of the 
Reichstag. Roehren and Bebel gave us impres- 
sive statistics regarding the number of prostitutes 



IN THE REICHSTAG 115 

and other disreputable characters of Berlin, 
Munich, Cologne, and Hamburg. On the table 
of the House was a heap of suggestive documents. 
What an abominable secret museum, and how 
lowering this exposure of her secret vices was to 
virtuous Germany! 

I was somewhat scandalised by the eagerness 
with which my colleagues began to examine 
minutely the incriminating articles placed at their 
disposal. I was still more so when I ascertained 
that this display of filth inspired no virile resolu- 
tion on the part of either Chancellor or Parlia- 
ment. The Bill was, in fact, thrown out, without 
any attempt being made to substitute more ac- 
ceptable legislative formulas in its place. Official 
Germany resigned itself to allowing the flood of 
debauch to rise, without even attempting to raise 
a dam against it. And yet, in the eyes of all the 
puritans of Berlin, Paris remains the modern 
Babylon. Such hypocrisy would be disconcerting 
if one did not know that German virtues — fidelity 
to a promise, scientific probity, civic courage and 
honesty in business — are a hollow sham. 

The closed life of parties in the Reichstag is 
easily explained. In the German Empire polit- 
ical groups have no responsibility, since they never 
come into power. They are supernumeraries 
and not the principal actors in the political drama, 



116 BEHIND THE SCENES 

if I may be allowed to express myself in that way. 

In countries possessing a parliamentary regime, 
the parties, compelled periodically to assume the 
burden of government, know how to adapt their 
programmes to the necessities of public life. 
Thus they acquire that practical knowledge which 
German parliamentarians lack completely. The 
latter are face to face with Ministries formed, 
apart from majorities, by irresponsible Sovereigns. 
Consequently, the groups, which have not the 
anxiety of accommodating their political theories 
to the possibilities of the administration, are able 
to isolate themselves in the most intransigent doc- 
trinarianism. 

As, in consequence, they hope to obtain a few 
realisations only by Governmental favour and 
compromises with other parties, the Reichstag, 
like the Parliaments of the various States, pre- 
sents that curious spectacle of an assembly in 
which the most disciplined and the most narrowly 
doctrinarian fractions nevertheless exhaust them- 
selves by repugnant bargainings. 

Whatever may be the composition of the Im- 
perial Parliament, the Chancellor has, therefore, 
every advantage. He can always count on find- 
ing there duplicate majorities, provided he knows 
how to pay the price for the "conversion" of one 
of the principal groups of the Reichstag. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 117 

Prince von Biilow was the first who, since Bis- 
marck's "Kartell" was overthrown, attempted, in 
1903, to create a compact majority. He suc- 
ceeded by forcing the patriotic note. 

Up to 1907 the Imperial Parliament was com- 
posed of a Right (Conservatives and National 
Liberals) which was not sufficiently powerful to 
obtain a majority, even in military, naval, and 
colonial questions, against an ever possible coali- 
tion of the Centre, the Democrats, and the Social- 
ists, supported by the Polish fraction and the 
Alsace-Lorraine group. Prince von Biilow, by 
offering official support to the Democrats (Radi- 
cals) on the condition that henceforth they sup- 
ported him in all demands of a national order, 
succeeded in reducing the number of Socialist 
seats by half. From that time the Centre no 
longer played the part of arbitrator between the 
Right and the Left of the Assembly. Prince von 
Biilow always denied that he wished to combat the 
Centre, the assistance of which was often so pre- 
cious to him; but there can be no doubt that 
he hoped to deprive a party, which, in his opinion, 
made conditions for its 'support too burdensome, 
of its preponderant position. 

He fully succeeded. Of all Parliaments, the 
Reichstag of 1907 was the most patriotic. The 
domesticated Democrats voted enthusiastically in 



118 BEHIND THE SCENES 

favour of all military credits, and the Centre, 
henceforth powerless, only thought, whilst rival- 
ling with the groups of the Right in patriotism, of 
making sure of Governmental favours. 

In order to obtain this national concentration 
of parties, Prince von Billow had the cleverness 
during the discussion to utter a magic word which 
he thought would turn aside the debate from its 
right course. "Policy of the Block" — such was 
the label which he stuck on his programme. By 
borrowing this term from the home policy of 
France, the Chancellor thought he would call to 
arms the anti-clerical hatred of the German 
Lutherans. The manoeuvre was a skilful one, 
since, on the one hand, it was to win over many 
waverers to Prussian nationalism and, on the 
other, to checkmate the Centre, which had all 
sorts of reasons for fearing the revival of the 
" Kulturkampf ." 

The German "Block" was not, however, speci- 
fically anti-clerical. Bulow himself had never 
thought of giving it that character. 

The word was merely to act as a scarecrow, as 
a means of blackmailing the Centre. It pro- 
duced its full effect, since Spahn and Erzberger 
soon became the most convinced and determined 
supporters of Imperialism. 

The Reichstag of 1911 persented quite a differ- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 119 

ent aspect. Not national questions, but economic 
problems raised by the tremendous increase of 
indirect taxation, had been the platform during 
the electoral struggle. The Socialists were thus 
able to win 110 seats, with the result that on ques- 
tions of home policy the Right (Conservatives, 
Liberals, and Democrats) and the Left (Centre, 
Socialists, Poles, and Alsace-Lorrainers) were 
equal. 

Von Bethmann-Hollweg's first Reichstag (the 
one still sitting) came within an ace of not being 
constituted. The election of the President, Vice- 
Presidents, and Secretaries gave rise to stormy 
incidents. According to the traditions of the 
House, the presidency ought to have been given 
to the strongest party numerically, that is to say, 
to the Socialists. But the bourgeois parties could 
not resign themselves to this extremity. As, 
however, the Conservatives and the National- 
Liberals refused to give their votes to a member 
of the Centre, this last group voted, out of spite, 
for Bebel. If the Poles had not shirked at the 
last moment, the patriarch of the social revolution 
would have obtained the majority. The provi- 
sional executive which resulted from these elec- 
tions was composed of a Conservative, a National- 
Liberal, and a Socialist, the ineffable Scheide- 
mann. A month later, when the definitive execu- 



120 BEHIND THE SCENES 

tive was formed, an understanding had not yet 
been arrived at between Conservatives and Cen- 
trists. Therefore the small group of Democrats 
obtained the presidency (occupied by the aged 
Kaempf) and a vice-presidency (held by Dove), 
whilst the Liberals delegated that insupportable 
chatterer Paasche to the other vice-presidency. 
Nevertheless, during four weeks, we saw 
Scheidemann occupy the presidential chair of the 
Reichstag for an hour or two at each sitting. 
His glory was ephemeral; but one cannot eat of 
the pleasant fruit of fame with impunity. After 
his short acquaintance with honours, this former 
compositor was to retain a taste for high rank 
and influential relations. Whomsoever has not 
heard him say, with a rising gorge, "I call upon 
his Excellency, the Chancellor of the Empire, to 
speak," cannot penetrate the mystery of the soul 
of an upstart. 

President Kaempf was a thin little man of piti- 
ful appearance. He belonged to the business 
world, and in that capacity had been for many 
years the head of the Council of the Elders of the 
City of Berlin — a body equivalent to a French 
Chamber of Commerce. Elected at the second 
ballot, in 1911, by a majority of one vote, he was 
the only bourgeois member of Parliament of the 
Prussian capital. This tremulous old man is, 



IN THE REICHSTAG 121 

moreover, afflicted with deafness, of which he 
knows how to take advantage, so as not to have to 
call his political friends to order when they give 
way to intemperate language. He has a long 
beard, but his upper lip is shaved, giving him the 
appearance of a Quaker. Never was the Reichs- 
tag presided over by a less decorative personage. 

I shall say nothing about Dove, except that his 
insignificance is disheartening. 

Paasche is more interesting. This professor 
of theoretical agriculture of Charlottenburg is the 
busiest of the members of the Reichstag. His 
interminable speeches, delivered with a rapidity 
which drives to despair the most expert sten- 
ographers, are very learned but badly composed. 
Paasche has been entrusted with numerous mis- 
sions abroad. It was during one of these that a 
disagreeable adventure happened to him. The 
story was told by a Socialist newspaper in the 
following words: 

"A member of the Reichstag was recently in 
New York. Hunger, desire and to some extent 
the devil urging him on, he allowed himself to 
be enticed away and robbed. The imprudent 
man, crestfallen, went to the police station to 
lodge a complaint, and there had to reveal 
his identity. So was kann einem paschieren" — 
the last word being substituted for passieren, 



122 BEHIND THE SCENES 

thus clearly pointing out this victim of Venus. 

The whole of Germany was amused by this 
discourteous revelation. But Paasche did not 
lose the esteem of his colleagues on account of 
such a peccadillo. 

Another member belonging to the Right, 
Prince Hatzfeld, was less fortunate. One day 
he was caught by a railway ticket collector in the 
act of insulting a lady passenger. The over- 
zealous employee having taken down his name and 
address, the authorities had great difficulty in 
hushing up the scandal. The Prince paid dearly 
for this act of folly, since there slipped through 
his fingers, successively, the presidency of the 
Reichstag, the post of Statthalter of Alsace- 
Lorraine, and an Embassy. He is, however, a 
very agreeable man and of more than average in- 
telligence. 

Colonial policy was the object of constant 
thought on the part of the Government and the 
Parliamentary groups. Having taken her place 
among the great naval Powers late in the day, 
Germany found all the great colonies occupied 
by her rivals. She contented herself, with an ill 
grace, with what no one else wanted. Hence a 
deep irritation, a contemptible jealousy, and a 
firm determination to lay hands on the possessions 
of other nations by every means in her power. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 123 

"The Colonial Empire of the British is too ex- 
tensive," my colleagues of the middle-class parties 
were constantly telling me. "As to France, she 
cannot exploit her own owing to an insufficient 
number of colonists. It is unjust and intolerable 
that a nation with a high birth-rate, like ours, 
cannot succeed in establishing itself in unpeopled 
parts, which we could turn to profit, whilst na- 
tions with a limited natality allow all this wealth 
to go to waste." 

This reasoning, constantly repeated by mem- 
bers of the Reichstag, had become part and parcel 
of the common talk. We heard it over and over 
again in all the beer-shops. 

Germany made enormous sacrifices for her col- 
onies. Independently of the credits voted by 
Parliament, considerable sums were collected by 
the Colonial League, one of the most powerful 
and most active of the associations of the Empire. 

Deputies and members of the League openly 
displayed their annexationist plans. The Bel- 
gian as well as the French Congo were to be theirs 
by right. It was necessary, at all costs, that 
East and West Africa should be united by a broad 
band of territory, cutting the Black Continent in 
two. In the West a sufficient effective was to be 
maintained to be able to invade and occupy Cape 
Colony. Quite naturally, the Portuguese pos- 



124 BEHIND THE SCENES 

sessions and Morocco would become German. 
Brazil, two provinces of which were occupied by 
500,000 emigrants of German origin, would be 
dismembered, if it would not accept the protec- 
torate of Germany. Chili, Venezuela, and Mex- 
ico, countries where German influence was very 
great, would sooner or later come under the 
domination of the Empire. As to China, it would 
quite naturally come within the sphere of Ger- 
manic influence, since Kiao-chau was but a short 
distance from Peking. 

How many times I have read and heard these 
wild divagations! Awaiting the realisation of 
these wonderful plans, Parliament and the Colo- 
nial League set to work with equal zeal to estab- 
lish bases of operation for the German Navy. 
To be able to understand the formidable appetite 
of the Germans for domination, it was necessary 
to be present at the deliberations of the Budget 
Committee. If the enterprise of 1914 had suc- 
ceeded as its organisers hoped it would, the whole 
world would have been in servitude. 

The League provided all articles required by 
colonists, even housekeepers. It assumed, in fact, 
the mission of mobilising a large number of big, 
strong girls of Brandenburg, and sent them, 
carriage paid, to the Cameroons and East Africa 
for the German farmers, who were requested to 



IN THE REICHSTAG 125 

choose their legitimate "collaborators" from 
among them. The lordly race must not, indeed, 
prostitute itself by cross-breeding. German 
blood in the colonies, as in Europe, must remain 
free from any admixture. 

It is, indeed, a rather curious fact that of re- 
cent years the Pan-Germans, carrying their the- 
ories of racial exclusivism to the uttermost point, 
protested with the greatest violence against mar- 
riages between the descendants of Germans and 
women of other races. The Hebrews themselves 
did not watch over the purity of their race more 
jealously. 

Germany's colonial policy, however, was not 
always very fortunate. I need do no more than 
recall the Peters, Aremberg, and Puttkamer 
scandals to establish the fact that, in negro coun- 
tries as much as and sometimes more than on the 
old Continent, the Germans remained the brutes 
they have always been. At the time of their cam- 
paign against the Herreros, in East Africa, they 
exterminated the native population at the risk of 
being completely deprived of labour. 

The influence of the Pan-Germans was prodi- 
gious and daily grew stronger. In 1908 the man- 
agement of the League published a summary of 
its work. With legitimate pride, they pointed 
out in that voluminous report that the Chancellors 



126 BEHIND THE SCENES 

of the Empire had ended by adopting the whole of 
their programme. The concordance between the 
successive demands of Pan-Germanism and the 
acts of the Government was proved in the most 
rigorous manner, year by year and almost month 
by month. 

This marvellously organised League had, in- 
deed, secured the active collaboration of the whole 
corporation of teachers and also, since the accen- 
tuation of the industrial crisis, that of the big 
producers' associations. As the Prussian Junk- 
ers, on the other hand, were quite won over to its 
annexationist theories, one can state that everyone 
of any authority in Germany supported its ef- 
forts. 

Abroad, the members of the League were for 
a long time regarded as madmen, destitute of any 
influence over the German nation. The Pan- 
Germans in no way complained of this disdainful 
disregard of their political action, because it 
favoured their designs. As a matter of fact, in 
a country where the Government had always exer- 
cised an indisputable authority, they had suc- 
ceeded in dominating the Chancellor himself and 
in dictating their wishes to him. 

I saw their power grow in the Reichstag. But 
old Prince von Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst, who, in 
1898, held the post of First Councillor to the 



IN THE REICHSTAG 127 

Emperor, was too wary and too sceptical a diplo- 
matist to submit to the injunctions of the League. 
On the other hand, Prince von Biilow, who natur- 
ally inclined towards violent solutions, was wholly 
in favour of the doctrine of an all-powerful Ger- 
many and used all his energies, especially during 
the seven years he was at the Chancellery, to win 
over the parties of the Left to the ideas of Hasse 
and Class. 

Since his arrival in power the evolution of Pan- 
Germanism was rapid and complete. I have 
already pointed it out above, but shall have occa- 
sion to return to the subject later on. 

Parisians have not yet forgotten Prince von 
Hohenlohe, who for so many years was the in- 
conspicuous but nevertheless remarkably skilful 
representative in the French capital of Germany. 
This slim little man, weakly in appearance and 
modest in attitude, was afflicted with an inordinate 
personal ambition. When misadventures of a 
private nature necessitated his removal, he got 
himself paid royally for his desistance by the post 
of Statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine. After the fall 
of the Chancellor von Caprivi, the Emperor 
William II offered the Prince his post. Von 
Hohenlohe needed pressing. It was not to his 
liking to exchange a well-paid post, in which he 
exercised sovereign prerogatives, for a wretchedly 



128 BEHIND THE SCENES 

paid office which would oblige him to submit to 
the criticisms of a Parliament still imperfectly- 
disciplined. 

In order to overcome his resistance, it was 
necessary to double the Chancellor's salary — to 
make it 100,000 marks (£5,000) instead of 50,000, 
with which Bismarck and Caprivi had been con- 
tent. Another reason — quite a personal one — 
made Prince von Hohenlohe decide to put on the 
shoes of the founder of the Empire. He had 
inherited the Russian estate of Werky. Now, a 
short time before, the Tsar had issued a ukase 
obliging all German landlords in Russia to sell 
their lands within a period of nine months. The 
Statthalter of Alsace-Lorraine, fearing the dis- 
astrous consequences of this forced sale, had gone 
to St. Petersburg to obtain from Alexander III 
an extension of time. But, at the reception at 
which he hoped to present his request, the Tsar 
turned his back on him. Prince von Hohenlohe 
believed that the Emperor of All the Russias 
would not refuse the Chancellor of the Empire 
what he had refused the Governor of the annexed 
provinces. Events proved that he was right. 
The nine millions the Werky estate was worth 
were saved. 

I was forgetting to relate that before he suc- 
ceeded in this clever combination Prince von 



IN THE REICHSTAG 129 

Hohenlohe conceived another, which had no suc- 
cess whatever. He endeavoured, in fact, to make 
his son Alexander a naturalised Russian — that 
very son who, a few years later, was appointed 
Prefect of Upper Alsace. After having declared 
that he was ready to renounce his German nation- 
ality, for the big sum of money, Alexander did 
everything in his power, as will be remembered, to 
Germanise the people of Alsace-Lorraine. 
When, later, he became, thanks to the most ex- 
cessive electoral pressure, Deputy for the arron- 
dissement of Haguenau-Wissemburg, I reminded 
him from the tribune of the Reichstag of that 
unpatriotic act, to the great joy of my colleagues 
of the Centre and the Left. 

Chancellor von Hohenlohe rarely appeared in 
Parliament. More than mediocre as an orator, 
he was unable to speak without the aid of a manu- 
script, from which he never raised his eyes. One 
day he happened to get the sheets of his state- 
ment mixed up. For more than ten minutes he 
was painfully occupied in putting his notes in 
order, whilst the most unseemly bursts of laughter 
came from all benches. 

The Prince, as one knows, was devoid of all 
character. The Emperor, who prided himself on 
being his own Chancellor, had chosen him chiefly 
for that reason, just as later, after having im- 



130 BEHIND THE SCENES 

prudently selected a very individualistic Chan- 
cellor, in the person of Prince von Biilow, he was 
to replace him by the ductile official who bears the 
name of Bethmann-Hollweg. 

At first the Reichstag adapted itself perfectly 
to this phantom Chancellor. Its whole activity 
was absorbed in economic struggles, and Prince 
von Hohenlohe, equally unconnected with either 
the ultra-Protectionist Conservatives or the mod- 
erate Free traders of the parties of the Left, was 
lightly handled by all parties. 

A propos of the conflict of economic interests 
at the Reichstag, I should like to point out that, 
contrary to what happens elsewhere, the compo- 
sition of the Imperial Parliament has always been 
very mixed. I have only fairly recent statistics 
at my disposal; but, as the general physiognomy 
of the Parliament has never varied much, they will 
suffice to show that all professions were repre- 
sented there. 

The following are the figures for the elections 
of 1907 and 1912:— 

Agriculturists, 106-88; manufacturers, 21-5; 
artisans, 20-21; tradesmen, 13-17; workmen, 0-3; 
persons of independent means, 17-13; journalists, 
37-58; ecclesiastics, 21-21; professors, 24-22; doc- 
tors and chemists, 7-8; lawyers, 32-39; magis- 
trates, 35-24; public officials, 22-21; communal 



IN THE REICHSTAG 131 

employees, 9-7; employees of private enterprises, 
32-50. 

What will particularly strike the reader in this 
list is the large number of magistrates and other 
officials who figure in it. German electoral law 
recognised indeed that all officials have the right 
to put up for Parliament and to carry out their 
duties there without being obliged to send in their 
resignations. It even allows the elected official 
to continue to receive the whole of his salary, 
whilst enjoying the right of a vacation equal to 
the duration of the sessions. 

An official, definitely appointed to administra- 
tive employment, is the owner of his post. He 
can be deprived of it only by a judgment of the 
superior administrative tribunal of the State to 
which he belongs. As a result of this, he recovers 
his entire independence of opinion out of office 
hours. Should he belong to a party in opposition 
to the Government and take an active part in 
politics, he will suffer, perhaps, as regards pro- 
motion. But he will still be protected against all 
repressive measures. These liberal provisions of 
German legislation are of a nature to surprise us. 
They result in leading the political parties, which 
are always short of candidates, to offer numerous 
seats to men who, through their experience in 



132 BEHIND THE SCENES 

public affairs, seem particularly apt for parliamen- 
tary duties. 

One must admit that these members of the 
Reichstag who are both officials and deputies ren- 
der signal services both to the country and the 
groups to which they belong. Here is a curious 
fact. The day after the closure of each session, 
these employees, who, the day before, controlled 
the Government, are obliged to resume their often 
modest duties (there are teachers and postmen 
among them) and to submit once more to all the 
arrogance of the chiefs immediately above them. 

Our attention is attracted to another point in 
the above statistics. During the last two legis- 
latures there were first 43 and then 110 Socialist 
members. Now, the 1907 Parliament did not 
contain a single workingman member, whilst that 
of 1911 only had three, of whom two belonged 
to the Centre and the Right. The members of the 
Extreme Left are, therefore, almost all recruited 
from the liberal professions, 43 of them being 
journalists, 7 lawyers, 2 municipal employees, and 
37 industrial employees. That explains how 
Possibilism and Imperialism have been able to 
exercise such great ravages among men the ma- 
jority of whom have received a middle-class 
formation and have never broken their friendly 



IN THE REICHSTAG 133 

relations with their families and the comrades of 
their childhood. 

It would be a manifest exaggeration to pretend 
that in Germany Socialism is the party in which 
all the incapables and wastrels take refuge. On 
the contrary, we find a large number of men of 
worth in the fraction of the Extreme Left. It is 
also true that the Socialist Party has largely 
benefited by the exclusiveness shown by the other 
groups in the choice of their candidates. One 
day, one of my friends expressed to the father of a 
Collectivist member his surprise at seeing this 
young and brilliant writer throw himself heart and 
soul into the revolutionary agitation. 

"What can you expect?" replied the excellent 
man, without malice. "My son would certainly 
have preferred to place his ability at the service 
of another cause ; but he is ambitious, and he knew 
that, being of modest birth and having but slender 
means at his disposal, there was no future for him 
in the bourgeois groups, whereas the Socialists 
would be very happy to have the assistance of an 
intellectual man." 

That is the history of many members of the 
so-called Revolutionary Party. Especially is it 
that of the Jews, who, in Germany, are system- 
atically thrust aside by the middle-class parties. 

Few members of the Reichstag knew how to 



134 BEHIND THE SCENES 

read the Budget. The majority never even tried 
to decipher it. Miiller-Fulda used to be im- 
mensely amused over this ignorance. 

"Our Budget," he said to me one day, "is abso- 
lutely lacking in sincerity. Transfers of sums of 
money abound in it, and you must be a past master 
in the art of handling figures to know where you 
are. The principal concern of our statesmen is to 
hide from the foreigner the credits they devote 
first to military preparations and secondly to 
propaganda work, or, if you like, to the intelli- 
gence department, to espionage. In our financial 
Bill you will find but a modest sum of three mil- 
lions for our Secret Service. Now, in all the 
chapters of the Budget are other credits which, 
under the most varied titles, are devoted to the 
same use. Moreover, we put our hands deeply 
into the secret funds of the other States." 

Here I will relate a personal anecdote. Herr 
von Richthofen, the former Secretary of State for 
Foreign Affairs, was easy to approach. I often 
conversed with him, and he seemed to take a cer- 
tain amount of pleasure in meeting me. One day 
he complained in my presence of the excessive use 
which the English, in his opinion, made of their 
Secret Service funds to secure assistance in the 
Foreign Press. 

"Why don't you do the same?" I objected. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 135 

Taken quite unawares, Herr von Richthofen let 
slip the following significant confession: 

"Ah! if we only still possessed the Guelph 
funds." 

The Guelph funds were the revenue of the se- 
questrated fortune of King George of Hanover. 
This revenue was estimated at sixteen million 
marks. Now, a short time before, the Prussian 
Government had given the full and entire posses- 
sion of it to the Duke of Cumberland. Herr von 
Richthofen's thoughtless exclamation showed, 
however, that before this restitution the sixteen 
millions had been regularly used by Prussia in 
corrupting foreign newspapers. It had been 
necessary to reconstitute this Secret Service fund 
with the ordinary resources of the Budget. Little 
by little, and by means of skilful transfers, they 
had succeeded. 

But once more I call upon Miiller-Fulda to 
speak. ' 

"Would you like an instance," he further said 
to me, "of the way they proceed in our country? 
A few years ago the French artillery was consid- 
erably in advance of ours. Their new field gun 
was much superior to that of the German Army. 
What was to be done? The transformation of 
our light artillery might have driven the French 
to profit by their advantage immediately. So the 



136 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Chancellor called together the leaders of the 
groups and addressed them as follows, 'We have 
a model of a remarkable gun. To provide our 
troops with it we must dispose of a credit of 400 
millions. The transformation, however, must 
take place in the deepest secrecy. Will you au- 
thorise me to spend that sum of money without 
setting it down in the Budget? With your con- 
sent, I will arrange the matter by means of skilful 
entries.' No sooner said than done! I will defy 
you to find a trace of those 400 millions in the four 
Budgets in question, where, however, they are 
indeed hidden. Apart from the few conspirators, . 
our colleagues noticed nothing, and the majority 
are still in ignorance of the fact that they voted 
faked Budgets." 

One can, therefore, affirm that in the German 
Empire control does not exist. The whole of 
the parliamentary jobbery is done in the back 
shop, where the Chancellor, with a few initiates, 
prepares, far from indiscreet eyes, his question- 
able operations. 

A few days later that impenitent sceptic 
Muller-Fulda made me acquainted with the prac- 
tices of the great German banks. On expressing 
my astonishment at seeing the Berlin banks sub- 
scribe 500 millions to the Russian loan at a 
moment when the market was very depressed, the 



IN THE REICHSTAG 137 

member for the Centre burst out laughing and 
confided in me as follows : 

"We have no money, but we know how to make 
that of others fructify. Nominally, we subscribe 
to the Russian loan, but we shall pass on the scrip 
clandestinely to our correspondents in London 
and especially in Paris. We do the same, more- 
over, with our shares in the Bagdad-Ottoman 
Railways. By calling for the greater part, we 
secure considerable political advantages. Then, 
when that is done, we gradually get rid of these 
shares, the accumulation of which on our home 
market would represent a dead weight. What 
is the good of the internationalism of banking if 
we cannot find in it a compensation for the ostra- 
cism to which our national securities are subjected 
on the Paris Bourse and the London Stock Ex- 
change? A purely fictitious ostracism, however, 
for I can tell you in confidence that more than 
two thousand millions of our State loans sleep, in 
the form of pretty vignettes, in the safes of small 
French capitalists. Don't protest! Our secu- 
rities pay a high rate of interest, and we give big 
commissions to those who place them." 

It was again Miiller-Fulda who, at the time of 
the Moroccan incidents, made the following disclo- 
sure to me: — 

"English intervention is possible. Our Gov- 



138 BEHIND THE SCENES 

ernment, in agreement with our shipowners, has 
foreseen it. All our captains who are on long 
voyages have been provided with envelopes con- 
taining secret orders, which they are to open as 
soon as they are informed of the imminence of a 
declaration of war. They will immediately hoist 
the United States flag from their mainmasts. In 
fact, in case of war, the Morgan Syndicate is the 
purchaser of the whole of our merchant fleet at a 
figure already agreed upon." 

I do not know whether this agreement was ever 
really made with the American capitalists. But 
the declarations of Miiller-Fulda, the best-in- 
formed man in the Reichstag, prove that it had 
been seriously thought of in the Governmental 
circles of Berlin, and that, from that period, they 
foresaw near and serious difficulties with Great 
Britain. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 139 



CHAPTER VII 

Militarism in German Politics 

In the Tribune — The Parties — Erzberger — "En Famille" — 
The Tariff — Dissolutions. 

The first time I wanted to speak in the Reichstag 
I had a painful surprise. On the list of speakers, 
in the possession of the secretary, I occupied the 
third place. Now, ten members mounted into the 
tribune before me and I had to wait two days be- 
fore I was able to deliver my little speech. 

Here is the explanation of this phenomenon. 
The rules of the House indeed provide for mem- 
bers speaking in the order of their inscription, but 
the rules, in this respect as in many others, are 
constantly broken. A member of the Reichstag 
does not exist individually; only the group to 
which he is attached is taken into consideration. 
It is the custom, therefore, for the Parliamentary 
fractions, each in its turn, to delegate to the 
tribune one of its members in the numerical order 
of the groups. 

In 1898 the speaker of the Centre came first, 
and after him, in succession, those of the Conserv- 



140 BEHIND THE SCENES 

atives, the National-Liberals, the Socialists, the 
Imperial Party, the two principal Democratic 
groups, the Anti-Semites, the Jews, the Alsace- 
Lorrainers, and finally the Popular Party of 
Wurtemberg. If the debate was not concluded 
after this first procession of orators, they came to 
what the Germans call "the second garnishing," 
but always keeping strictly to the same order. 

I would also add (and this detail is important) 
that, in the Parliamentary fractions, the principal 
speaker and the speakers who, should it so happen, 
speak a second and a third time are chosen by the 
directing committees and bound to submit the text 
of their speeches to them. Very rarely, and only 
at the end of a sitting, is a member who has serious 
reasons for separating himself from his political 
friends over a question of local interest authorised 
to express a few timid reservations. In this case, 
he must also suffer the severe censorship of his 
leaders. 

How is it that German members of Parliament 
can accept such servitude? The reason is very 
simple. German political parties are endowed 
with a wholly military organisation. The enlisted 
elector does not give his vote to a man but to a 
programme. He has blind faith in the decisions 
of the committee of his district, which itself ac- 
cepts the orders of the central committee, almost 



IN THE REICHSTAG 141 

without discussing them. It is, therefore, this last 
committee which decides on the choice of candi- 
dates and gives them their investiture. 

Henceforth, the dependence of the elected mem- 
ber is absolute. If he does not give proofs of 
absolute submission, he knows that he runs the 
risk of losing his seat through the will of his 
chiefs. But if, on the contrary, he obeys at a 
sign, his re-election is assured. 

The organisation of the parties is so rigid that 
one can foretell precisely the number of votes at 
their disposal in each constituency. The Centre, 
for instance, cannot be beaten in any of its ninety- 
two strongholds, the Socialists dispose of forty-six 
assured seats, and the Conservatives of sixty. On 
the other hand, the National-Liberals have only 
a very limited number of rotten boroughs, and 
the Democrats hardly any. Both are able to 
maintain the number of their seats only by elec- 
toral compromises entered into with other groups. 

According as the Liberal Parties contract, at 
the general elections, an alliance with the Right or 
the Left, the number of Socialist seats exceeds a 
hundred or falls to fifty. 

However that may be, these agreements, made 
by the central committees, possess an obligatory 
and imperative character for the parties. This 
always leads to the same result, namely, that indi- 



142 BEHIND THE SCENES 

vidually the fate of candidates is in the hands of 
the prime movers of the political organisations, 
and that the unfortunate deputies are obliged, in 
order to obtain the official support of their leaders, 
to renounce all independence. 

The aged Marbe, member for Friburg-en- 
Brisgau — an honest man if ever there was one — 
often used to say to me: 

"I beg you never to consent to belong to the 
Centre. I belong to it — and for how many years 
past! I suffer horribly through being obliged to 
vote in favour of Bills of which I disapprove. 
Our high priests dispose of us as though we were 
mere cattle. Our votes are sold to the highest 
bidder, and they regard it as our duty to sustain 
the market. Sometimes I have tried to protest., at 
the meetings of the fraction, against combinations 
which supremely displeased me. They always 
pointed out to me that I was too late, for the 
compromise had already been agreed upon by our 
diplomatists." 

Marbe was right. A hundred, nay, a thousand 
times have I heard the echo of similar complaints. 
Discipline was, however, stronger than these re- 
volts in the name of commonsense and honesty. 
Miiller-Fulda, of whom I have several times 
spoken, spent his time harshly criticising the de- 
cisions of Lieber and Spahn. Never, however, 



IN THE REICHSTAG 143 

did he openly combat them, and at a plenary sit- 
ting he voted in their favour. The satirical smile 
with which he then coupled his action only made 
his abdication more humiliating. 

A few rare and ambitious men succeeded, how- 
ever, in intimidating the great leaders. One of 
them was Erzberger. 

Mathias Erzberger is a big fellow with a smart 
and vulgar face. He is in every way rotund — 
cheeks, body, arms, etc. On seeing him for the 
first time, nobody would guess that this mass of 
unhealthy-looking fat enveloped a most head- 
strong mind. When, however, you hear his 
rattle-like voice utter aphorisms in an imperative 
tone, doubt is no longer permissible — big Mathias 
knows what he wants and speaks out energetically. 

A humble teacher of Wurtemberg, he first of 
all threw himself heart and soul into the anti- 
clerical movement. He was not long, however, 
in discovering that the Catholic Centre would 
assure him a more brilliant future than the Democ- 
racy. At a day's notice he turned his coat. His 
former adversaries, who had been able to appre- 
ciate his worth, opened wide their arms to him. 
In 1903 Erzberger, then barely twenty-eight years 
of age, was elected a member of the Reichstag. 

Hardly had he taken his seat in Parliament 
when he laid siege to the committee of his party. 



144 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Already taught by experience, he made himself 
insupportable to Spahn, whose policy inside the 
fraction he fiercely combated. The case was an 
embarrassing one. To strike the wolfling would 
perhaps have raised a scandal. "Was it not bet- 
ter to tame him?" Although this sacrifice was 
particularly painful to him, Spahn decided to 
offer a seat on the committee of the fraction to his 
hot-headed opponent. He was exceedingly com- 
fortable there, for, from the day on which Erz- 
berger became one of the leading members of the 
Centre, there was never a single instance of weak- 
ness in his governmentalism. 

The young member of the Catholic Party has 
no convictions, but only appetites. A prodigious 
worker, and gifted with an extraordinary mem- 
ory, he has been able to make himself redoubtable 
to the Chancellor through his deep knowledge of 
the Budget. He is scandalised less than anyone 
by the inaccuracies he has discovered in it; but he 
knows how to make use of them to blackmail the 
members of the Government. His tactics to- 
wards the Chancellor are the very same as those 
he has employed to overcome the resistance of his 
file-leaders. "Beware!" he seems to say to those 
who will not accept his summonses. "I know a 
good lot and can cause you the most serious em- 
barrassments." And, indeed, in questions of 



IN THE REICHSTAG 145 

detail, he proves himself so well informed and 
sometimes provokes such stormy debates that, in 
order to muzzle him on the occasion of more seri- 
ous business, they grant him everything he wants. 
When faced by obstinate opposition, this terrible 
man does not flinch before the worst conflicts. 
He it was who, in 1906, brought about the disso- 
lution of the Reichstag. Later, he caused the 
retreat of Secretary of State Dernburg, who, 
however, had the reputation of being afraid of no 
one, not even of the Chancellor and the Emperor. 

Erzberger aspires (as everyone knows in the 
Reichstag) to be head of the German 
Colonial Administration. In the meanwhile, 
he has taken part in certain business trans- 
actions which have brought him a large fortune. 
His opponents even contend that he will end in 
compromising himself in some shady affair or 
other. Perhaps they are not far out; for already 
in the Vereinsbank smash and in that of the real 
estate agent Jahn the member for the Centre nar- 
rowly escaped serious trouble. 

I Uaed to go to the Reichstag about eight o'clock 
every morning to read the newspapers and write 
my articles. Erzberger got there regularly half 
an hour later. Alone, at two adjoining tables, 
we worked away; and thus I had often an oppor- 



146 BEHIND THE SCENES 

tunity of conversing with him. Now, this is what 
he proposed to me one day: 

"I am acquainted," he said, "with a plan for 
the construction of a canal and the establishment 
of a large commercial port north of Berlin. The 
land where the works will be executed can be 
bought for an old song and will increase in value 
a hundredfold. The purchase, however, must be 
made rapidly and quietly. Do you know any 
Parisian capitalists who might place three millions 
at the disposal of my syndicate? If the affair 
comes off, there will be 10,000 marks for you." 

"That doesn't interest me," I replied. "Even 
if you spoke of commission, I shouldn't touch that 
affair." 

Erzberger seemed very surprised at my 
scruples. Nevertheless, I consented to place him 
in relations with one of my financial friends. I 
wanted to discover his methods of procedure. I 
was lucky. My friend communicated Erzberger 's 
letters to me. They were extremely instructive. 
The deal did not come off, because the member for 
the Centre demanded from the Parisian syndicate, 
before the signing of the contract, a commission 
of 150,000 marks. I had attained my object. 
Henceforth I knew my colleague's character. 

Erzberger has no nobility of feeling. He 
affects rude manners. His coarse laughter is re- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 147 

pugnant. How it is that the Chancellor, during 
the present war, entrusted this big, awkward 
fellow with the most difficult diplomatic missions 
I cannot for the life of me understand. At Rome, 
in that society of the Vatican where diplomacy is 
conducted so subtly and so discreetly, this fat 
German must have provoked terror by his man- 
ners — those of a peasant of the Danube. 

At the time of Erzberger's arrival at the 
Reichstag, Miiller-Fulda guessed that he could 
make the ambitious young man the instrument of 
his hatred. He monopolised him. Every morn- 
ing the two conspirators, standing in the recess 
of a window of the writing-room, conversed in a 
low voice, and, judging by the expressions on 
their faces, one could tell that they were concoct- 
ing the blackest of plots. 

Those who have not assiduously followed, as 
I have done, the sittings of the Reichstag, at the 
time when the number of those attending rarely 
exceeded sixty, have but a very imperfect knowl- 
edge of the mechanism of German Parliamentary 
institutions. Later, after the voting of the Par- 
liamentary indemnity, the lobbies were crowded, 
and it became more difficult to watch over the 
manoeuvres behind the scenes. Until 1907 every- 
thing happened in the family circle and almost in 
the light of day. 



148 BEHIND THE SCENES 

If, at that time, I went so often to Berlin, it 
was because, as a journalist, I found there the 
best and surest information. My colleagues of 
Alsace-Lorraine often joked about what they con- 
sidered was excessive zeal on my part. And yet 
those repeated sojourns in an almost deserted 
Reichstag have rendered me the greatest service 
by enabling me to penetrate deeper into the 
German soul. 

Only once during those years did the Reichstag 
present a scene of extraordinary animation. The 
special committee appointed to revise the tariff 
had with great difficulty come to an understand- 
ing. The Bill had got to be passed at a plenary 
sitting. Now the Right, the Centre, and some of 
the National-Liberals, desirous above all of pro- 
tecting German agriculture against the influx of 
foreign cereals, were in direct and irreducible op- 
position to the parties of the Left, who were in 
favour of cheap bread. 

The struggle was an epic one. The heads of 
the fractions had mobilised all their troops. For 
three days (a spectacle until then unknown) the 
number of those present reached and even ex- 
ceeded three hundred. However, as the debates 
were prolonged there was a falling off in the 
attendance. During a fortnight, the anxious 
leaders sent an express messenger every half-bour 



IN THE REICHSTAG 149 

to the cloak-room to count the hats and see if 
there was still a quorum. 

The Socialists, anticipating the fatigue of the 
majority, endeavoured to prolong the discussion 
indefinitely. At each clause of the tariff (and 
there were more than nine hundred) they dele- 
gated to the tribune one of the most verbose and 
most diffuse of their speakers — Heyne, David, 
Antrick, or, especially, Stadthagen. 

The last-named could easily speak for five hours 
at a stretch. I recollect seeing him one day in 
the lobbies, sitting at a table on which lay innu- 
merable sheets of a transcript of the shorthand 
notes of his speech — a transcript which he had to 
correct hastily. 

"A just punishment," I remarked to him, "for 
having bored us during half the sitting." 

Stadthagen's faun-like face lit up with a broad 
smile. 

"You don't know all, my dear colleague," he 
replied. "Did you notice that when I ascended to 
the tribune I had a huge pile of books under my 
arm? It happened that I borrowed a series of 
long quotations from them. Now, when a 
speaker begins to read, our stenographers point 
their pencils towards the sky, after writing the 
fatal word inseratur. But for the life of me I 
cannot find the quotations I made at hazard 1" 



150 BEHIND THE SCENES 

When a clause of a Bill under discussion no 
longer permitted the debates to be dragged out, 
the Socialists asked to speak on the application of 
the rules. We then had to submit to endless 
speeches on the insufficient heating of the House, 
or on the draughts which made it uninhabitable. 

Heyne, who had not the reputation, however, of 
being a disagreeable joker, spent an hour counting 
the doors of the House. We became furious. 

The Socialists imagined still another trick for 
retarding the decisive votes. For each clause of 
the Bill, as for each of the amendments they pre- 
sented, they demanded the nominal vote. Now, 
at that time, this vote was taken by the secretaries 
calling out the names of the members, who re- 
plied by a "Yes" or a "No." Before resuming 
the debates, it was necessary to have a recapitula- 
tion. Thirty-five to forty minutes were wasted 
over this. 

In order to put a stop to this obstruction, the 
rules had to be changed. Since then the nominal 
vote is taken by means of different coloured voting 
papers (white: yes; red: no; blue: abstention). 
Moreover, it was decided that the speeches calling 
for an application of the rules must not exceed 
five minutes. Three days more were lost in get- 
ting these modifications voted. 

At last, to put an end to the situation, Kardorff 



IN THE REICHSTAG 151 

proposed the adoption in the lump of the five hun- 
dred clauses which had not yet been voted. This 
motion brought about a veritable storm. Singer 
was expelled for having tried to force his way into 
the tribune. A very little more and they would 
have come to blows. The leaders of the groups 
grew very anxious. It became more and more 
difficult to maintain the number of those attend- 
ing, the amateur deputies refusing to stay in Ber- 
lin merely to attend irritating and sterile debates. 
So it was decided to sit in permanence. It was 
a Saturday. The sitting opened at nine a.m. It 
ended the next morning at four. At seven p.m. 
food and drink gave out. 

For this last battle they had succeeded in as- 
sembling nearly three hundred members. Now, 
the instructions they had received were peremp- 
tory. Nobody was to leave the Reichstag, not 
even for an hour, for the Socialists might at any 
moment demand a nominal vote. There were, 
in fact, eighty of these nominal votes during the 
day. At four in the afternoon the Socialist 
Antrick mounted into the tribune. He was still 
there at midnight. In order to keep up his 
strength, his colleagues brought him grog after 
grog, in which the yolks of eggs had been beaten 
up. Every quarter of an hour the speaker closed 
his portfolios and uttered a few phrases intended 



152 BEHIND THE SCENES 

merely for effect and which led the members of 
the Executive to believe that he was about to con- 
clude his speech. Immediately the division bell 
sounded throughout the Palace, whereupon there 
was a wild rush of members who feared they would 
arrive too late to vote. I must confess that that 
night I had, for the first time in my life, thoughts 
of murder. 

At last, at four a.m., the final vote took place, 
amidst the prolonged cheering of the Right and 
the hooting of the Left. Before going home to 
take our well-earned rest, twenty of us went to 
the Chapel of the Sisters of St. Charles to attend 
Mass. Now, I was destined not to sleep that day. 
For at seven o'clock, just as I was beginning to 
drop off, there came a loud knock at my door. 
It was one of the little boy attendants of the hotel, 
who, thinking he would please me, had come with 
the special editions of the newspapers announcing 
the great news. I came near to strangling the 
poor little fellow. 

r i he next day the Reichstag assumed once more 
its dreary and abandoned appearance. It was 
not full again until the time came for the debates 
on colonial policy which, in 1906, brought about 
the dissolution of the Assembly. These dissolu- 
tions were periodical. Bismarck had recourse to 
them thrice when Parliament refused to grant him 



IN THE REICHSTAG 153 

military credits. The German people, however, 
always sent him back majorities that were more 
supple. Let those who try to establish an arbi- 
trary distinction between the German nation and 
those who govern it kindly remember that fact. 
Dernburg was, in his turn, to triumph in 1906 
over the opposition of Erzberger. The Centre 
and the parties of the Left were again decimated, 
whilst the Conservatives and the National-Liber- 
als saw the number of their seats increase in an un- 
hoped-for fashion. 

German Chancellors readily make use of the 
threat of a dissolution. How many times I have 
heard said in the lobbies, "Prince von Biilow (or 
Herr von Bethmann-IIoIlweg) arrived a short 
time ago carrying the red portfolio (die rothe 
Mappe) under his arm." This portfolio is re- 
served for Imperial decrees. Generally, it needed 
nothing more to bring the opposition to an agree- 
ment. I am even very much inclined to think 
that, very often, the party leaders, whose compro- 
mises had not met with the approval of their col- 
leagues, made use, in accord with the Chancellor, 
of the expedient of the red portfolio to overcome 
the last resistance of their respective fractions. 
The dissolution of the Reichstag always, indeed, 
brings about a considerable change in the composi- 
tion of the House. After my sixteen years in 



154 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Berlin, I was one of the hundred or so deputies 
whose mandates had been constantly renewed. At 
the opening of each legislature we found ourselves 
in the company of 150 to 200 new colleagues, mere 
supernumeraries for the most part, for very few 
among them succeeded in penetrating the direct- 
ing committees of their party on which the im- 
movables, or "immortals," sat. 

, Twice I heard the Chancellor ask to speak at 
the opening of the sitting and pronounce the de- 
cisive formula, "I am ordered to communicate to 
the Assembly an important message from His 
Majesty." And in the midst of the most impres- 
sive silence, the highest official of the Empire an- 
nounced to us that the Reichstag no longer existed. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 155 



CHAPTER VIII 

The Emperor and Parliament 

William II — Prince von Biilow. 

At the end of each legislature the President called 
for cheers for the Emperor. Formerly the So- 
cialists remained in their seats, whilst the majority 
uttered the three formidable "Hochs!" which em- 
phasised its loyalty. Every time this silent dem- 
onstration on the part of the Extreme Left pro- 
voked indignant protests from the Conservatives. 
Later, the Socialists showed themselves more ac- 
commodating. Like the members for Alsace- 
Lorraine, they left the House when the psycholog- 
ical moment came. The President's complaisance 
even went to the extent of a motion with his head 
in order to avoid giving them a painful surprise. 
In 1911 a few Socialists did better. They re- 
mained in the House and rose from their seats. 
Did they join in the "Hoch! Hoch! Hoch!" of the 
other parties? I was never able to find out. 
Again, the successive attitudes of the Extreme 
Left as regards this question of etiquette clearly 



156 BEHIND THE SCENES 

show the evolution of a party which formerly 
called itself Republican, but which, since the be- 
ginning of the war, has declared itself decidedly 
Monarchical. 

A curious incident will also show us to what an 
extent the Imperial Parliament was lacking in en- 
ergy. A certain disagreement had arisen between 
the Government and the majority a propos of a 
Colonial credit. At that time the Rhenish manu- 
facturer Stumm belonged to the Reichstag, where 
he played the part of the man behind the Chan- 
cellor. Indeed Stumm, who was often received 
by the Emperor, was regarded as the inspirer of 
the reactionary policy of Prussia. Now, whilst 
the Parliamentary battle was at its height in the 
lobbies, Stumm, on his return from the Imperial 
Palace, informed us that William II, furious at 
the opposition to the Bill, had said to him, speak- 
ing of the Imperial Parliament, "I will crush this 
herd of swine" (diese Schweinebande") . Else- 
where, this vulgar insult would have provoked a 
revolt. But at the Reichstag it produced an as- 
suaging effect. A few Independents of the Left 
doubtless considered that the Emperor had gone 
too far; but the other members, fearing a serious 
conflict, hastened to give satisfaction to the irri- 
tated Sovereign. 

Several times, in 1902 and 1903, I met the Em- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 157 

peror in the Thiergarten, walking rapidly in the 
most frequented alleys with an orderly officer. It 
did not look as though special steps had been taken 
to watch over the Sovereign's safety. The Kaiser 
stared with his hard eyes at the promenaders whom 
he met and responded to their respectful saluta- 
tions by negligently raising two fingers to his 
white cap. 

Later, William II decided to give up these 
walks. He no longer went through the parks 
and along the streets of Berlin except in a motor- 
car. As soon as the Emperor's yellow carriage 
was signalled, policemen stopped the traffic and 
forced the passers-by to get on to the foot pave- 
ments. The car passed at a speed of forty miles 
an hour in the midst of a crowd which caught but 
a glimpse of the cowardly monarch. 

William II is, in fact, haunted by the fear of 
death. As soon as any person about him feels the 
slightest uneasiness, he or she is immediately re- 
moved from the Court until completely cured. 
When, in the course of his numerous journeys, it 
is reported to the Emperor that cases of infectious 
disease have been notified in one of the towns he 
is to visit, the programme of receptions is imme- 
diately altered. If the harmful microbes ever 
reach the Sovereign it will not be through lack of 
precautions to keep them from him. 



158 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Presentation to the Emperor has been proposed 
to me three times. 

"Nothing will please me better," I have replied 
each time; "but I have a condition to make. I 
shall tell the Emperor all I have on my mind." 

"That is impossible," I was told. "The proto- 
col requires you merely to reply to the questions 
asked by the Sovereign." 

"Very well, in that case I prefer not to be re- 
ceived by him." 

The Germans could not for the life of them un- 
derstand my stubbornness, they who, to have the 
honour of pressing the hand of their master, would 
accept in advance the worst insults. 

I was well inspired in avoiding any interview 
with the brutal fellow who presides over the des- 
tiny of the German people. Here is the proof. 
In 1913 the Alsace-Lorraine Parliament de- 
cided, in order to show its dissatisfaction over the 
Zabem affair, to reduce the Statthalter's allow- 
ance by half (100,000 marks instead of 200,000). 
A short time afterwards William II came to 
Strassburg, and a grand reception was organised 
in his honour in the salons of the Secretary of 
State. Dr. Ricklin was present. 

Prince von Wedel had asked the President of 
the Second Chamber to stand near him, so that he 
could introduce him to the Emperor. The 



IN THE REICHSTAG 159 

presentation took place. The Emperor, riding 
his high horse and staring still harder, exclaimed, 
in a cutting voice: 

"Ah! so you are the President of those who 
have placed my Statthalter on short commons? 
See that you do better next year!" 

Whereupon he turned on his heels. Dr. Rick- 
lin went and complained to Baron von Bulach of 
this piece of impertinence. The Secretary of 
State promised to calm the Emperor, and towards 
the end of the evening attempted to do so. 

"Sire," he said, "the President of the Chamber 
is grieved by the reception you reserved for him. 
Cannot you say a few kind words to him?" 

"Not to-day!" replied William II, brutally. 

There you have the man in his real colours — 
the military brute who will accept no contradiction 
and considers he has a right to lash those whom he 
thinks are incapable of defending themselves. 
How different from the amiable, smiling Sover- 
eign whose delightful portraits have been drawn 
for us by foreign tourists ! 

The Emperor's capricious temper was known 
and feared at the Reichstag. How many times I 
have heard the members of the Government and 
the party leaders threaten us with the anger of 
William II! 

With some of his familiars, the German ruler 



160 BEHIND THE SCENES 

knows, however, how to lay aside all constraint. 
Two Alsatians had thus won his good graces: 
Baron von Bulach, son of a Chamberlain of Na- 
poleon III, who was made a Minister through an 
Imperial caprice, and Baron von Schmid, that 
French quartermaster whom William II pro- 
moted, one fine morning, major of a regiment of 
the Guard, to the great scandal of all the officers. 

Both secured the favours of the Sovereign by- 
relating to him those little scandals and stories of 
the guard-house of which William II is so fond 
when he consents to lay aside his arrogance. 

William II is and will remain an enigma for 
future historians. The contradictory attitudes of 
this eternal weathercock are disconcerting. He 
has been seen to wave, with the same apparent con- 
viction, the torch of war and the olive branch of 
peace. He seems to be fond of nothing but uni- 
forms and grand military spectacles, until, sud- 
denly, he reveals himself in the character of a hum- 
drum bourgeois, desirous above all of transacting 
a few good business deals. 

He cannot keep still. Nature has also afflicted 
him with an intemperance of language which 
throws his collaborators into a state of despair. 
The Imperial busybody knows nothing, studies 
nothing, and listens to no one. When the Chan- 
cellor, or one of his Secretaries of State, comes to 



IN THE REICHSTAG 161 

read a report, he has not got further than the sec- 
ond sentence before William II interrupts and 
tries to dazzle him with his foolish theories. Herr 
von Posadowsky, Secretary of State at the Home 
Office, a serious and wonderfully well-informed 
man, used to allow the flood of intemperate lan- 
guage to pass by, and then quietly resume his 
statement at the point where he had had to leave 
off. Furious at this, William II used then to 
amuse himself by making his two fox terriers pass 
in and out between the Minister's legs, until Posa- 
dowsky, weary of this fooling, closed his port- 
folios and asked permission to withdraw. One 
fine morning, Herr von Posadowsky, whose uni- 
versal knowledge seemed to fit him for the post 
held by Prince von Biilow, received a visit from 
Herr von Valentini, the chief of the Civil Cabinet, 
who handed him the famous "blue letter" inform- 
ing statesmen that the hour of their "voluntary" 
resignation had struck. There was general sur- 
prise in the Reichstag. William IPs fox terriers 
alone could have told us the cause of this unex- 
pected disgrace. 

Nevertheless, Chancellors knew how to utilise 
the Sovereign's deambulatory mania and prolixity. 
Every time that German diplomacy came in con- 
tact with serious difficulties, the Emperor was 
begged to pack his trunks and visit foreign Sover- 



162 BEHIND THE SCENES 

eigns. William II has been seen in almost every 
capital, where he did his best to captivate the 
Court, whilst his Minister was baiting advanta- 
geous conventions. What would the German Em- 
peror not have given to be able to come to Paris? 
This was the unrealised dream of his reign. Every 
time that his advances toward the Government of 
the Republic were unavailing, William II 
wreaked his anger on the people of Alsace-Lor- 
raine. Consequently, we feared above everything 
else those friendly telegrams with which period- 
ically he used to overwhelm French statesmen. 
We knew beforehand that they would be paid for 
by us in the form of fresh persecutions. 

William II was to find a less complaisant 
Reichstag during the historic days of November, 
1908. But before speaking of that tragic occa- 
sion, I will stop to draw the portrait of the man 
who was the principal actor — Prince von Biilow. 

Bernard von Biilow was born under a lucky 
star. Kind fairies gave him both suppleness of 
mind and the gift of speech. Entering the Diplo- 
matic Service when quite young, he was to meet 
with nothing but success. Wherever he went — 
Paris, London, St. Petersburg, and especially 
Rome — he was feted, petted, adulated. The Ger- 
man diplomat cut a fine figure, spoke several lan- 
guages with ease, and exhibited flashes of wit 



IN THE REICHSTAG 163 

which were repeated right and left. A great 
reader, he could discourse agreeably on all sorts 
of subjects — literature, history, political economy, 
etc. When he entered on politics, he showed him- 
self a past master in the art of saying nothing, 
whilst giving himself the air of lavishing the most 
redoubtable confidences. 

Prince von Biilow was, moreover, and still is, 
the most crafty of courtiers. He easily forgets 
his promises, and breaks his engagements without 
scruple. Lying, which he always accompanies 
by a captivating smile, costs him no effort what- 
soever. Stupendously ambitious, he will pass 
over the body of his best friend when his personal 
interests dictate that inelegant action. 

Few men are as vain as he is of their physical 
charms. As I have said elsewhere, Prince von 
Biilow is not a handsome man but a pretty woman. 
One has the impression, when speaking to him, that 
he is constantly twisting himself about and striv- 
ing to impart to his attitudes an enveloping grace. 
There is the same studied elegance in the sonorous- 
ness of his bass voice. 

Prince von Biilow has a fine bearing. His reg- 
ular features, however, are lacking in distinction. 
On the other hand, his blue eyes are very expres- 
sive. 

Was it owing to his personal allurement that, 



164 BEHIND THE SCENES 

late in life, he married the Countess of Campo- 
reale, the granddaughter of the Italian Minister 
Minghetti? Perhaps so. This marriage was 
profitable to him. Princess von Biilow is a very 
intelligent and prudent woman, whose collabora- 
tion has been precious to the German diplomatist. 
In 1900 Chancellor von Hohenlohe summoned the 
man who was soon to become William II's "dear 
Bernard" to the post of Secretary of State at the 
Foreign Office. A year later Prince von Biilow 
replaced him in the celebrated Wilhelmstrasse 
Palace. 

The ambitious statesman had succeeded in ob- 
taining Bismarck's old post. Henceforth he 
strove to surpass even the founder of the Empire. 

I cannot resist the temptation of here relating 
an incident which, though slight, will inform the 
reader regarding Prince von Billow's principal 
defect. 

Unless my memory fails me, it happened in 1906. 

A Parisian journalist, M. de N , had come to 

Berlin, and I had had several interviews with him. 
Now, during his stay in the Prussian capital, a 
grand reception was announced to be given at the 
Chancellery. Everybody of note in the aristo- 
cratic, literary, artistic, diplomatic and parliamen- 
tary worlds of Berlin was to crowd in the official 
salons. M. de N expressed to me a desire to 



IN. THE REICHSTAG 165 

attend the soiree,, where he thought he would be 
able to collect some precious information. But it 
was not easy to obtain an invitation for him, be- 
cause the Parisian journalist had, a short time be- 
fore, published a somewhat caustic book about 
William II. However, Prince von Billow's sec- 
retary, Herr von Loebell, now Prussian Minister 
of the Interior, ended by sending me the little card 
on which were the simple words "Mme. von Biilow 
receives on such a day, at 9 p.m." 

The Chancellor gave a hearty welcome to my 
companion. He even showed his kindness to the 
extent of taking him into Bismarck's study, where 
he showed him the pen with which his predecessor 
had signed the Treaty of Frankfort! The po- 
litest German will display these sudden awaken- 
ings of ancestral savagery. 

On returning to Paris, M. de N published 

in a big morning newspaper three articles, in 
which, in most eulogistic terms, he wrote about 
Prince von Biilow and his guests. Now, a few 
days later, when in the lobbies of the Reichstag, I 
happened to meet Prince von Aremberg, who al- 
most every evening played whist with the Chan- 
cellor. 

The Prince stopped me and without preamble 
said: 



166 BEHIND THE SCENES 

"Your Parisian friend is a blackguard. The 
Chancellor is furious." 

"How is that?" I replied. "I've read the arti- 
cles and they are so amiable that I'm surprised a 
Parisian journal published them." 

"Amiable?" cried the Prince. "Look here! 
Just you read this passage which Prince von 
Biilow himself has underlined with a blue pencil." 

The passage in question merely consisted of 
these few words, "Prince von Biilow Las an ordi- 
nary head." 

The French journalist had touched the German 
statesman on his tenderest spot — his vanity, that 
of a faded beau. 

We should be wrong, however, in concluding 
that Prince von Biilow did not seek other suc- 
cesses. As Chancellor of the Empire he wished 
to govern effectively, and at the same time he 
aspired to give his country the hegemony of the 
universe. To be the head of the first State in the 
world, such was the foolish plan which this proud 
man had dreamed of realising. It was under the 
government of Prince von Biilow that Pan-Ger- 
manism, openly or hypocritically encouraged by 
him, was able to develop freely and bring all the 
public authorities under its domination. All the 
foreign representatives accredited to the German 
Government know the stereotyped argument 



IN THE REICHSTAG 167 

which the occupant of the Wilhelmstrasse urged 
against them. 

"Ah ! yes, Herr Ambassador. I was quite ready- 
to make you such-and-such a concession, but, when 
reading the newspapers, you must yourself have 
been convinced of the impossibility, situated as I 
am, of keeping my promises. Public opinion 
would not tolerate it." 

A nice excuse! This public opinion was the 
Chancellor himself, who had formed it by the 
communiques from his Press Bureau. 

Prince von Biilow was not always free, how- 
ever, to act as he pleased. He had a suspicious 
master. William II is disconcerting. All who 
have striven to study him have had to abandon the 
task of penetrating the mystery of his psychology. 
Capricious, always acting on the spur of the mo- 
ment, profoundly convinced of the almost divine 
character of his mission, sometimes seized with 
strange scruples, and then suddenly allowing him- 
self to be led to the worst excesses through his 
headstrong temperament, he exacts from his co- 
workers a blind submission to his eternal caprices. 

Prince von Biilow was not the man to accept 
this servitude. For a long time he succeeded, by 
amusing him, in suggesting his ideas to the Em- 
peror. Serious difficulties, however, were created 
for him through William IPs intemperate Ian- 



168 BEHIND THE SCENES 

guage, which became almost morbid. Never able 
to remain long in one place, delivering solemn 
speeches wherever he went, in German towns as 
well as in foreign capitals, intoxicating himself 
with his own words to such an extent that he some- 
times made the most compromising declarations, 
convinced that he knew everything, whereas he 
would not consent to learn anything, the Emperor, 
in his oratorical demonstrations and in his private 
conversations with foreign leaders and statesmen, 
indulged in the wildest fancies. This jack-of -all- 
trades who presided over the destiny of the Ger- 
man Empire not only imagined that he was a 
painter, a sculptor, an art critic, and a remarkable 
musician, he also thought that he could compete 
with Demosthenes and Cicero. His political 
speeches and sermons (for every year, during his 
cruises in the North Sea, William II preached on 
Sundays before the crew of his yacht) have been 

published in volume form. 
\Prince von Bulow was furious at being unable 

;o dam the threatening flood of Imperial elo- 
c^pience. The legitimate emotion provoked by the 
publication in the Daily Telegraph of an interview 
^n which William II gave an appreciation in dis- 
agreeable terms of England's policy furnished the 
Chancellor with an opportunity of bringing his 
master to reason. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 169 

There was an interpellation in the Reichstag. 
vThe proceedings lasted three days. Never had 
the tribune of the Imperial Parliament enjoyed 
such liberties. Theoretically, the Sovereign's per- 
son must never be discussed in Germany. But 
during those celebrated days high treason was com- 
mitted dozens and scores of times by members of 
all parties, even those of the Right. The most 
indulgent speakers pleaded extenuating circum- 
stances and vaguely hinted that, in their opinion, 
the Emperor was not responsible because he was 
of unbalanced mind. 

Sunk in his seat, Prince von Biilow, with dis- 
tressed face and wrinkled brow, his blue eyes fixed 
on the ceiling and his hands raised, every now and 
then, to make a disheartened gesture, was a living 
statue of sorrow. He allowed, however, the tor- 
rent of insults poured on the Sovereign to pass 
without protesting. A consummate actor, he as- 
sumed the attitude of a victim resigned to the 
worst sacrifices. And yet we all knew that at the 
top of the Imperial manuscript he had placed the 
sign that he had read it and approved. 

The proud master of the Wilhelmstrasse, out- 
rageously ambitious and basely cunning, imagined 
that, thanks to the most hypocritical and dishon- 
est of manoeuvres, he had succeeded in assuring 
for himself, henceforth, undisputed power. But 



170 BEHIND THE SCENES 

when, on the third day, he rose in the midst of im- 
pressive silence, it was in an almost languid voice 
that he made the long expected declaration, "I 
have seen His Majesty. I have obtained from 
him the promise that henceforth he will show the 
greatest reserve." The whole Reichstag ap- 
plauded. Prince von Biilow had not the least 
idea at that moment that he had just signed his 
death warrant. 

In the lobbies, the Chancellor's friends gave cir- 
cumstantial details regarding the interview be- 
tween the Chancellor and the Sovereign. The dis- 
cussion had been a stormy one and Prince von 
Biilow had several times offered his resignation. 
On leaving his master, he was pale and almost fal- 
tering. And in the eyes of all the members of 
the Reichstag the statesman who had had the cour- 
age to affront the Imperial anger grew beyond 
all measure ; he became the national hero, the man 
who, by an audacious gesture, had restored the 
reign of democracy in Germany and was prepar- 
ing to endow Prussia with a new constitutional 
regime. 

During the weeks that followed, William II, 
the wandering Emperor, der Reisekaiser, as he 
had been jokingly baptized, did not leave Berlin, 
and the echo of none of his conversations appeared 
in the Press. It was known that, at long inter- 

1 



IN THE REICHSTAG 171 

vals, "dear Bernard" still went to the Palace to 
report the progress of affairs to the Emperor, and 
that, during these short audiences, the Emperor 
had not opened his mouth. Prince von Biilow, 
proud of the result obtained, had recovered his 
good humour and continued to enjoy his increas- 
ing popularity. Alas! the Chancellor knew his 
master very badly. William II never pardons a 
personal insult. Still less is he the man to sup- 
port a tutelage. He had bent his back to the 
storm, but, cunning and obstinate, he awaited the 
hour of vengeance. It was soon to strike. 

The finances of the Empire were in a bad state. 
Prince von Biilow, a Pan-German and deter- 
mined to prepare for the great war of conquests, 
had opened the most ruinous credits for the Gen- 
eral Staff of the Army. The annual deficit of 
the Empire reached 500 million marks. The 
Chancellor had indeed tried to meet this by means 
of loans, but these barely covered it. Nothing re- 
mained to be done, therefore, but to create fresh 
taxes. 

Now, the Left claimed, contrary to the constant 
tradition and also to the spirit as well as the letter 
of the Constitution, that the necessary resources 
should be obtained by means of direct taxes, which 
are reserved for particular States. The Right 
and the Centre, as also the Federal Council, were 



172 BEHIND THE SCENES 

in favour of increasing the indirect taxes — those 
on beer, alcohol, matches, railway tickets, way- 
bills, etc. A formidable struggle commenced. 
Prince von Biilow, faced by the opposition of the 
Socialists and the Democrats, whom he had, how- 
ever, domesticated, wished to retire. William II 
refused to accept his resigation before the Reichs- 
tag had improved the finances of the Empire. The 
Chancellor was forced, therefore, to accept the 
proposals of the Conservatives. The day after 
their triumph, when the whole Left was over- 
whelming its former idol with insults, the Em- 
peror, who at last had vengeance within his grasp, 
allowed the Chancellor to collapse in the midst of 
the general scorn. He had imposed on himself 
for six months the promised "reserve," but his 
triumph appeared only the more brilliant. From 
the day after his "dear Bernard's" sensational 
fall, William II, more talkative than ever, re- 
sumed the series of his noisy and pompous changes 
from place to place, whilst the ex-Dictator, with 
embittered heart, went to hide his vexation in the 
Villa des Roses at Rome. 

Prince von Biilow, on leaving office, did not 
say, like Bismarck, "The King will see me 
again"; but, more skilful than the Iron Chancellor, 
he took good care not to set up a noisy opposition 
to the new regime. The courtiers whom he re- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 173 

tained in misfortune have related to us that the 
disabused statesman spent his time in the Eternal 
City re-reading good authors, and that his serene 
soul henceforth soared very high above the 
wretched contingencies of politics. Nothing of 
the sort! The ex-Chancellor was biding his time! 
He thought it had come when, at the beginning of 
the war, he was entrusted with the task of main- 
taining the neutrality of Italy. Notwithstanding 
his failure, he hopes that his chance will still come 
on the day when Germany, forced to negotiate 
with the victorious Allies, will be obliged to have 
recourse to his undoubted diplomatic ability, and 
on the day when, compelled to rid itself of the 
dynasty of prey, Prussia will seek for its first 
President of the Republic. Like William II, 
Prince von Biilow harbours and protracts his 
hatred. His revenge will only be complete on the 
day he enters as a master into that Palace whence 
the Emperor drove him like a valet. 

Did the fourth Chancellor of the Empire in- 
tend, as has been claimed, to bestow a parliamen- 
tary regime on Germany? I have never believed 
it. By birth, education, and temperament he be- 
longs to the caste of the Junkers. He had, how- 
ever, the supreme skill to give the opponents of 
the autocracy the illusion of a Liberalism which 
was absolutely foreign to him. Above all, anx- 



174 BEHIND THE SCENES 

ious to win over the parties of the Left to his im- 
perialistic policy, he incessantly made deceitful 
advances towards them. A few concessions as re- 
gards details sustained the confidence of men who, 
deprived until then of all honours and all the ad- 
vantages of power, threw themselves greedily on 
the crumbs that fell from the Governmental 
table. Whereas, formerty, the doors of the Wil- 
helmstrasse Palace had been strictly closed to 
Democratic members, Prince von Biilow showed 
himself most accessible to his recent opponents. 
Picture to yourself the pride with which the chests 
of these pariahs were inflated when the little Ba- 
varian magistrate, Miiller-Meiningen and his for- 
mer stenographer at the Reichstag, stout Wiemer, 
were received like friends by the all-powerful 
Chancellor. Prodigal of his smiles, his friendly 
slaps, and his words of affection, von Biilow spent 
his time in passing golden chains around the necks 
of his predecessors' most determined adversaries. 
How they laughed in the lobbies of the Reichstag 
to see the former bullies of the Democracy trans- 
form themselves into Court dandies ! 

The Chancellor always used the same language 
to his new friends. "At heart I am with you. 
Prussia and the Empire must be democratised. 
But we cannot succeed in doing that at a single 
stroke. We are suffocated within our frontiers. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 175 

Our industries are suffering from a crisis which is 
getting worse and worse. Our finances are in a 
rotten condition. Above all things, let us create 
a Greater Germany. The exactions of the Agra- 
rians and the arrogance of the officers are insup- 
portable, and I desire, as much as you do, to free 
Germany from them. But our army is the won- 
derful instrument which will enable us to domi- 
nate the world and place the wealth of our Father- 
land on the broadest bases. This would be a badly 
chosen time to break or even to blunt the sword 
which will give us the decisive victory. There- 
fore be patient. Second me in the final efforts I 
am making to assure our world domination. The 
day after victory, when the people, by their sacri- 
fices, have merited liberation from an ancient servi- 
tude, I shall be there to proclaim, with you, the 
necessity of immediately granting the widest lib- 
erties to the nation." 

There is, moreover, one of Prince von Biilow's 
phrases which all foreign politicians ought to re- 
member every time they are obliged to negotiate 
with a German diplomatist. Here it is, in all its 
splendid effrontery: 

"As far as I am concerned, I have never seen 
the dark side of the reproach that I have broken 
political principles ; I have even, at times, regarded 



176 BEHIND THE SCENES 

it as a eulogy. For I recognise in it the confession 
that the reason of State is my only compass." 

Do not confuse this monstrous declaration with 
the well-known saying, "Only fools never change 
their opinion." As a matter of fact, a thoughtful 
mind may, without loss of prestige, recognise that 
it has been mistaken. But there is a great differ- 
ence between this logical evolution of thought and 
the shameful principle in conformity with which 
momentary interests permit one to trample all 
principles underfoot. The theory of the "scrap of 
paper" and "necessity knows no law" is to be 
found in its entirety in Prince von Billow's horrible 
dictum. Prussians, fortunately, sometimes give 
way to these outbursts of sincerity when they be- 
lieve they are certain of success. And yet what 
nation has ever made so great an abuse of virtuous 
verbalism? 

One of Prince von Billow's favourite sayings 
was as follows: 

"When you go in for politics, you must have 
the skin of a rhinoceros." 

Sometimes the rhinoceros's skin became that of 
an elephant. The elegant occupant of the Wil- 
helmtrasse meant by this that he was indifferent 
to the most violent attacks. He exaggerated, for 
no statesman was ever more sensitive, not only to 



IN THE REICHSTAG 177 

a censure, the grounds of which were stated, but 
also to friendly criticism. A regards this he is to 
be distinguished from his successor, who really 
possesses "the skin of a rhinoceros." 



178 BEHIND THE SCENES 



CHAPTER IX 

The Growth of Imperialism 

Von Bethmann-Hollweg — The Evolution of the Socialists — 
Winterer and Preiss, the Deputies for Alsace-Lorraine 
— Delsor and Hauss — Dr. Ricklin and Vonderscheer — 
Gregoire and Charles de Wendel. 

Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg's appointment 
to the post of Chancellor came as a surprise to 
everybody. Nothing seemed to have prepared 
for such a high position the official whose absolute 
insignificance the Reichstag had already many 
times been able to appreciate. 

Picture to yourself a tall, well-made, but thin 
man who does not know what to do with his long 
arms and legs — a man whose bony, bearded face 
is without expression, whose eyes, buried in two 
deep sockets, always have the same anxious look, 
and whose thick and pendulous lower lip still 
further accentuates his disconcerting appearance. 
There you have Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg. 
A mediocre speaker, who, in a monotonous voice 
and with heavy gestures, often employs most lu- 
dicrous phrases, the fifth Chancellor of the 
Empire is most certainly deprived of everything 



IN THE REICHSTAG 179 

which contributed to the seductive charm of his 
predecessor. On seeing him, during the sittings 
of the Reichstag, buried in his chair, with his eyes 
fixed on the ceiling and his whole attitude expres- 
sive of profound boredom, you would take him for 
a perfect idiot. He is but a poor creature without 
will-power, entrusted, through a caprice of his 
Imperial master, with duties that are too heavy 
and too complicated for him. 

I knew him as a mere Under-Secretary of State 
at the Home Office. In those days nobody paid 
the least attention to this obscure co-worker with 
Herr von Posadowsky. When the latter received 
from the hands of Herr von Valentini the blue 
letter calling upon him to resign, Herr von Beth- 
mann-Hollweg became his successor. 

"Bethmann-Hollweg? Who is he?" people 
asked in the lobbies of the Reichstag, on hearing 
the news. 

"The insignificant — very insignificant — substi- 
tute for a man of great value," replied a few 
initiates. 

And, indeed, when, a propos of the home 
Budget, the interminable discussions on social poli- 
tics were resumed, one could clearly see how dryly 
bureaucratic the eloquence of the new Secretary 
of State was. 

I have retained an amusing recollection of that 



180 BEHIND THE SCENES 

period. It was in 1906, and the constitutional re- 
form of Alsace-Lorraine was once more being 
discussed in the Reichstag. During a speech by 
the Socialist Deputy Emmel, Herr von Beth- 
mann-Hollweg, near whom I was, made the 
following remark in an undertone: — 

"If only, before asking us for anything, you 
would agree among yourselves!" 

"This is a bad time, Excellency, to discuss that 
question," I replied. "If you will allow me, I will 
call to-morrow morning at the Wilhemstrasse." 

"All right! I will receive you at ten o'clock." 

I was there to the minute on the following day. 
Our interview lasted an hour and a half and was 
a stormy one. At one moment Herr von Beth- 
mann-Hollweg said to me: 

"You demand a Republican Constitution. That 
is impossible. The German Princes will never 
consent to establish a Republic, and that in the 
Marches of the West." 

"What can you expect, Excellency," I replied. 
"We have no dynastic attachment, and I don't 
see how we can create one ; and so much the more 
so because, as my colleague Groeber said a week 
ago, we should be obliged, if that came about, to 
'swallow' (herunterschlucken) a Prussian Prince." 

Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg, surprised by 
this unexpected remark, blurted out : 



IN THE REICHSTAG 181 

"Groeber was right. Ah ! if only Prince August 
was ten years older." 

He had confessed. Prussia counted on making 
Alsace-Lorraine the appanage for one of the sons 
of William II. The Emperor had even already 
decided to grant our country to his fourth son. 
I did not expect to hear so much as this. More- 
over, the naivete with which the confidence was 
made proves that Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg 
was completely destitute of the most elementary 
prudence. 

When the question of Prince von Billow's suc- 
cessor came up, deputies and journalists took part 
for several days in the game of trying to guess 
who it was to be. Many names were mentioned. 
But that of Herr von Bethmann-Hollweg never 
entered the head of a single person. When people 
heard that William II, after long hesitations, had 
fixed his choice on the least brilliant of bureau- 
crats, there was first of all stupor and then indig- 
nation in political circles. It was quite obvious 
that the Emperor wished to become his own Chan- 
cellor again. "Dear Bernard" had tried to play 
the part of a Mayor of the Palace. The boss 
intended to substitute for that cumbrous person- 
age a simple copying clerk. 

Moreover, the new Imperial Minister Was fully 



182 BEHIND THE SCENES 

to justify his master's confidence. Herr von Beth- 
mann-Hollweg is not a bad man; he has even a 
substratum of honesty which is surprising in the 
case of a Prussian. Above all, however, he is a 
faithful servant. The master commands and he 
obeys his orders without a murmur, without 
listening to the voice of his conscience. Some- 
times, perhaps, he raises a timid objection. But 
if the Emperor persists in his judgment, the 
Chancellor bows to it and, with an accent of the 
most profound conviction, upholds before Parlia- 
ment a point of view which, left to himself, he 
would have condemned. He is indifferent either 
to the opinion of Parliament or to that of the 
people. He will calmly say: 

"Put me in a minority, if it so please you; I 
shall remain all the same at my post as long as I 
retain the confidence of my Sovereign." 

The whole of German parliamentary life is 
summed up in this brutal sally. 

During recent years, the Socialists of the 
Reichstag had become the best supporters of the 
imperialism of Prince von Bulow and his successor. 
Events have proved it. Long and attentively have 
I followed their evolution. After the death of 
Liebknecht and Singer, Bebel, henceforth left 
behind by the self-seekers of his party, had himself 
abandoned his old intransigent opposition. Bern- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 183 

stein, Heyne, Sudekum, Scheidemann, and David 
had become masters of the parliamentary fraction 
and were themselves coming under the ascendancy 
of Legien. 

The last named, president of the German pro- 
fessional workers' syndicates, was the type of the 
Possibilist. Formerly the proletariat on the other 
side of the Rhine had had faith in the social revo- 
lution of that marvellous future State the 
prodigious equality of which the pontiffs of com- 
plete collectivism had flashed before its eyes. 
Then, seeing nothing come, but noting on the other 
hand that the mirage grew fainter every day, in 
the midst of a materialistic society in which the 
exigencies of capitalism grew inordinately, the 
workman had come to wish for immediate realisa- 
tions. Little by little, he had thus detached 
himself from pure politics in order to fall back on 
social legislation which certain bourgeois parties 
endeavoured to develop methodically but without 
excessive haste. From that time the seats of 
doctrinarian Socialists were in danger. Legien, 
who had them at his disposal, thanks to his power- 
ful syndicates, demanded of his colleagues of the 
Extreme Left that they should cease their system- 
atic and sterile opposition, to enter on the path of 
progressive amelioration of the lot of the workers. 
The Socialists formerly rejected all social Rills 



184 BEHIND THE SCENES 

on the pretext that they were insufficient. The 
Syndicalists forced them to vote for them every 
time that these Bills represented a real progress. 
It was thus that, at the time of the last reform of 
the workers' insurance, the Extreme Left, for the 
first time, added its votes to those of the Demo- 
crats, the National-Liberals, and the Centre. 

From that time Parliamentary Socialism re- 
nounced the doctrine of Karl Marx and became a 
party of reform like the others. One thing lead- 
ing to another, it transformed itself, if not into 
a governmental party, at least into a party of 
government. In the Grand Duchy of Baden, in 
Wurtemberg, and in Bavaria the fraction of the 
Extreme Left was seen to vote in favour of the 
Budget. Frank ventured to attend the Court 
receptions. When the constitutional reform of Al- 
sace-Lorraine came before the Reichstag in 1911, 
the whole of the Socialist fraction voted for the 
Governmental Bill, the first clause of which said, 
"Sovereign power is exercised in the Beichland 
by the German Emperor." In 1913, opposition 
to the formidable increase in the peace effectives 
of the army was very faintly indicated by the 
Parliamentary Socialists, who afterwards en- 
thusiastically adopted the thousand millions of 
extraordinary taxes on wealth which made that 
increase realisable. All these concessions of prin- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 185 

ciples were, moreover, consented to without any 
compensation. The Right continued to dominate 
the Imperial Parliament and the Prussian Gov- 
ernment remained fiercely reactionary. The 
Socialists nevertheless underwent the growing in- 
fluence of militant pan-Germanism. 

Since 1906 we could no longer make our 
complaints, as before, from the tribune of the 
Imperial Parliament without provoking protests 
from the parties of the Left as well as those of the 
Centre and the Right. The Poles and the Danes 
were in the same box. Whereas, formerly, we 
always had a majority when we demanded the 
abolition of our exceptional laws and the extension 
of our public liberties, the whole Reichstag now 
rose against claims which it considered excessive 
and treated us as enemies of the Empire. 

This was especially the case when there disap- 
peared one devoted friend we had in the ranks of 
the Socialist Party, the Bavarian Deputy von 
Vollmar. This tall, thin man with a long, angular 
head and a little pointed beard, like that of 
Napoleon III, was a curious figure. A former 
pontifical Zouave, von Vollmar had been wounded 
in the heel during the war of 1870, and they had 
never been able to extract the bullet, which caused 
him much pain. He walked but painfully, leaning 
on a stick. The frock-coat which he wore buttoned 



186 BEHIND THE SCENES 

up to the chin gave him the appearance of one 
of the officers on half -pay of the Restoration. Of 
very independent mind, speaking with some diffi- 
culty, but with much appositeness and a deep 
knowledge of the subjects he handled, the 
Bavarian Deputy was listened to very attentively 
in the Reichstag, especially when he spoke on 
foreign affairs. 

A very wealthy Swedish lady (it was related 
that she possessed two millions) became enrap- 
tured with the expontifical Zouave and married 
him. Now, it happened that since the Franco- 
Prussian War von Vollmar received a pension of 
2,000 marks from the Emperor's private purse. 
When, through his marriage, he became rich, he 
was discreetly invited to abandon his income. 

"God forbid!" he replied. "Henceforth I shall 
hand my pension over to the party funds, where 
it will represent the Imperial subscription." 

On this occasion von Vollmar showed himself 
more generous than Bebel, who, having inherited 
half a million from an officer, an admirer, kept the 
greater part of this royal gift for himself. We 
know that when the ex-workman cabinetmaker 
died he left a fortune of more than 900,000 marks 
to his son, a doctor in Switzerland. The Collec- 
tivists never pardoned their great leader for this 
infidelity to the sacred doctrine. It is true that 



IN THE REICHSTAG 187 

capitalists are numerous among them and almost 
always respected. 

My Alsace-Lorraine colleagues in the Reichstag 
formed an interesting group. After the voluntary 
departure of Canons Guerber and Simonis, M. 
Winterer became the doyen of our little fraction. 
His was a fine and beautiful figure. The cure of 
St. Etienne at Mulhausen had been elected for the 
first time in 1874 for the constituency of Altkirch- 
Thann. Since then, his electors had remained 
constantly faithful to him. In Canon Winterer's 
heart was one passionate affection — that for 
France, and one deep hatred— that for Socialism. 
At a time when nobody yet attached importance 
to the theories of Marxism, he had grasped their 
danger and, in books which are still read with 
profit, had attempted to refute them scientifically. 

Winterer had not a transcendent mind, but he 
was an indefatigable worker. He required a good 
deal of time and reflection to establish his con- 
victions, but when he had acquired them nothing 
could ever shake them. He stuck to his ideas in 
a direct ratio to the difficulty their assimilation had 
given him. Intercourse with him was not always 
easy; but the authority he enjoyed, and which was 
explained by his sincerity and application, as well 
as the dignity of his life, was enormous. 

In his attachment to the lost provinces he never 



188 BEHIND THE SCENES 

gave way. The Germans knew that he was their 
irreconcilable enemy. In Berlin, as well as in 
Strassburg, Winterer was the soul of a deliberate 
resistance, moderate in appearance, but of inflexi- 
ble energy. His speeches, which were very elabo- 
rate (the member for Altkirch never improvised), 
always produced a profound emotion, which was 
still further increased by the speaker's venerable 
aspect and the penetrating tone of his voice. 

Jacques Preiss was quite different. A lawyer 
of great ability and a remarkable polemist, speak- 
ing and writing the German language admirably, 
the member for Colmar gave, when in the tribune, 
the impression of being a powerful adversary. 
His arguments descended on the heads of his op- 
ponents like the blows of a sledge-hammer. The 
speech on the Dictatorship delivered by Preiss in 
1894 in the Reichstag marked the first awakening 
of public opinion in Alsace-Lorraine, after the 
period of the hardest persecutions. On hearing 
that splendid trumpet blast, the people of the 
annexed provinces recovered consciousness of their 
rights, as Spiess's election was to prove two years 
later. What Preiss so well called "the cemetery 
peace" was at an end. 

Few men were so popular as the member for 
Colmar during the years that followed. His name 
became a flag. And only rightly so, for Preiss, 



IN THE REICHSTAG 189 

devoid of all ambition, had never once shown a 
sign of weakness. A few months before the open- 
ing of the war he showed me, with a certain pride, 
the extremely rare pamphlet in which, when a 
young student, he had already traced the political 
programme which was to be that of his whole life. 

A good-humoured man and a most sure friend, 
he was held in general esteem. The Germans 
themselves respected an enemy whose disinterest- 
edness they knew through having tried in vain on 
several occasions to buy his co-operation. 

A Protestant, or rather a Freethinker, whose 
temperament led him to combat all religious sym- 
bols, "our Jacques," as he was called, neverthe- 
less extolled that sacred union of which he was 
one of the principal founders in Alsace-Lorraine. 
Catholic electors constantly showed their gratitude 
to him on that account, whereas the "Liberals" 
would never pardon him. 

Of medium height, with a well-knit frame, al- 
though he was afflicted with a slight stoutness, 
possessing an energetic face intersected by a slen- 
der moustache, and an animated look behind the 
double eye-glass constantly fixed on his small 
nose, Preiss spoke little, but listened and reflected 
a good deal. It was only after a good meal, 
copiously washed down by generous wines, that 



190 BEHIND THE SCENES 

he let himself go. His sprightliness was then 
unbounding. 

He gained an important position in the Reichs- 
tag. On the benches of the Democrats and of the 
Centre he counted only friends. His interventions 
in the tribune always produced the greatest effect. 

The Abbe Delsor is and was always a bundle of 
nerves. First of all a teacher in France and 
professor at the little episcopal seminary of 
Strassburg, he afterwards became, after a short 
stay at Colmar, as curate of St. Martin's, cure of 
a little village in Lower Alsace. Possessing su- 
perior intelligence, writing French and the 
Alsatian dialect perfectly, he experienced the 
glories of fame when quite young. His chats in 
dialect, signed "The Old Pontoneer," had a 
prodigious success in the Union d 'Alsace-Lorraine, 
and largely contributed to sustain the spirit of 
national opposition among the population of the 
annexed provinces. Later, when the Union was 
suppressed, Delsor took over the management of 
the Revue catholique d' Alsace-Lorraine, the 
brilliant monthly articles of which placed him in 
the front rank of the gallant defenders of our 
liberties. Delsor has a lapidary style. His 
sentences are clear, precise, trenchant, and abound 
in similes. Unfortunately, this incomparable 
writer has no definite political doctrine. He does 



IN THE REICHSTAG 191 

not live on an acquired basis of classified knowl- 
edge, but from day to day on his impressions of 
the moment. 

Here is an instance. In 1906 the Reichstag was 
discussing the American Meat Importation Bill. 
The German market was flooded with suspicious 
products, the preparation of which was not 
sufficiently controlled in the ports of departure. 
Numerous cases of poisoning had been reported 
through the consumption of sausages and fats 
coming from the United States. 

German producers, whose cattle was in- 
sufficiently protected against this disastrous com- 
petition, had demanded that the authorities should 
allow only animals that had been slaughtered in 
large houses, where they could be easily examined 
by the Customs, to be imported from America. 

Representing an almost exclusively agricultural 
population, the Abbe Delsor's duty was to support 
the Governmental Bill. But whilst on his way to 
Berlin he read an article by Le Play on cheap 
living. When he reached the Reichstag, he de- 
clared to Hauss and myself that he was going to 
ask to speak in favour of complete liberty as re- 
gards importation. The more we strove to combat 
his ideas the more obstinate he became in defend- 
ing them. Our discussion assumed such propor- 
tions that Hauss ended by saying to Delsor, 



192 BEHIND THE SCENES 

"Very well! Deliver your speech in your own 
name. I shall afterwards ask to speak in the name 
of my group, to uphold the opposite point of 
view." 

During the whole discussion, Delsor, who had 
had his name put down to speak, stood at the foot 
of the tribune. He was visibly annoyed. When 
his turn came to speak he delivered a splendid 
speech in favour of Protection! Hauss very 
nearly embraced him when, smiling, he returned 
to his seat. 

How can one explain this strange receptivity? 
Delsor, who is a very brilliant talker and naturally 
inclined towards contradiction, lives a good deal 
out of doors. He talks more than he studies. 
Hence a natural tendency to return in his articles 
to the often contradictory ideas which his long 
and numerous conversations with people of all 
classes have brought forth in his mind. 

We were constantly obliged to watch over him, 
to take him aside and catechise him, in order to 
avoid the danger of his bolting. This lack of 
moderation served him an ill turn in 1891. In 
one of his "Reviews of the Month" he allowed him- 
self to write an unfortunate sentence regarding 
Protestantism which brought him a sensational 
lawsuit. I was present at the sitting of the Miil- 
hausen Tribunal before which he was condemned. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 193 

The Imperial Procurator made merely a passing 
mention of the three incriminating words. On the 
other hand, he laid himself out to deliver an in- 
terminable speech on the general political attitude 
of the accused, whom he depicted as the most dan- 
gerous adversary of Germanism. The case ended 
in a sentence of three months' imprisonment. 
Whilst Delsor was in prison I was entrusted with 
the task of replacing him on the Review. This 
was my debut as a journalist. 

Under the Combes Ministry, the Abbe Delsor, 
who had been invited by a French Deputy of the 
Yosges to preside over a Christmas-tree fete given 
by the Alsace-Lorrainers of Luneville, was ex- 
pelled as a "German" subject from French terri- 
tory before he had even been able to speak there. 
Some of my readers will recollect the stormy dis- 
cussion that resulted in the French Parliament. 
The Ministry narrowly escaped defeat. Notwith- 
standing the numerous expressions of sympathy 
which the severe and unjustifiable measure of 
which he had been the object brought him, the 
Abbe Delsor, without confessing it to himself, felt 
his faith in France as a liberator decline. He 
visibly struggled against the prejudices which in- 
vaded him. Embittered and exasperated, he no 
longer succeeded, however, in fighting the good 
fight with the same ardour as before. His dis- 



194 BEHIND THE SCENES 

contentment was to increase still further when, 
notwithstanding the applications of his friends, he 
was several times refused the simple safe-conduct 
he had applied for in order to visit friends in Nor- 
mandy. When, later, thanks to the intervention 
of M. Paul Deschanel, I obtained the necessary 
document for him, he refused to make use of it. 

After this, is it surprising that, at the opening 
of the war, the Abbe Delsor did not take up the 
heroic attitude we hoped he would assume? I am 
aware that, later, he atoned for his weaknesses — 
of which I was the first victim — by particularly 
meritorious acts of courage. It will be to him 
especially that, to-morrow, we must apply the 
adage, "To comprehend everything is to pardon 
everything." 

Charles Hauss is an entirely different type of 
man. Coming of a very poor family, he was edu- 
cated at an elementary school, after which, dur- 
ing two years, he attended the classes of a school 
kept by French missionaries. He started work 
with the management of the Alsace-Lorraine 
Railway Company, and whilst an employee was 
a member of the delegation which, at the time of 
the suppression of the Fedelta, a Catholic society 
of Strassburg, called on Fichter, the Prefect of 
Police, to protest against that measure. The next 
day he was dismissed. He next became a serpent- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 195 

player at the Cathedral; then a reporter on the 
staff of Elsaesser. At the time of the election of 
M. Spiess, at Schlestadt, in 1896, Hauss sudden- 
ly revealed himself to be a first-class popular 
speaker. Tall and of fine bearing, possessing 
sympathetic features and a powerful voice, quick 
in his replies, endowed with a wonderful memory, 
and, moreover, an indefatigable worker, he pro- 
duced so deep an impression on his crowded audi- 
ences that, in 1898, despite the sly opposition of 
a few noteworthy Catholics, he was elected a 
member of the Reichstag. 

Hauss, displeased with the attitude of Elsaes- 
ser ', the journal of Mgr. Muller-Simonis, a semi- 
Rallie, founded, with Delsor, the Volksblatt, in 
which he defended a more clearly defined Alsatian 
policy. At first the paper met with consid- 
erable success, but later its action was paralysed 
through financial difficulties. 

Both in the Reichstag and in the Strassburg 
Parliament, which he entered later, Hauss was 
able to bring himself to the fore by his great abil- 
ity as a speaker. This self-taught man was also 
a remarkable political tactician. On many occa- 
sions he was even a little bit too much so. But 
it is only right to recognise that, whilst sometimes 
giving pledges to a Government which knew how 
to exploit financial difficulties, in the midst of 



196 BEHIND THE SCENES 

which, owing to his excessive prodigality, he was 
constantly struggling, he never completely abdi- 
cated his independence, and remained, even during 
most difficult times, a good Alsatian. 

I shall not say as much of Dr. Ricklin, who 
succeeded M. Winterer in the Reichstag when 
this veteran champion, tired out, felt that he could 
no longer ask his faithful electors of Altkirch- 
Thann to re-elect him. The Dannemarie doctor 
had already at that time a rather dark past. His 
mother having married a second time, when he 
was ten years old, little Eugen was taken by his 
stepfather, a Bavarian railway official, to the lat- 
ter 's native place, where the boy received a thor- 
ough German education. The numerous deep 
cuts that Ricklin bore on his face proved that he 
had been a very quarrelsome student at his Mu- 
nich school. 

Returning to Alsace, he became a country doc- 
tor. In those days he made a display of his Ger- 
manophile sentiments, never missed an opportu- 
nity on the occasion of the Emperor's birthday 
of putting on his uniform of an assistant doctor 
in the German Army, and lived in a state of con- 
tinual discord with his cure. His marriage to one 
of his cousins, a very wealthy girl whose educa- 
tion had been wholly French, seemed to have a 
good influence over him. The necessity of adapt- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 197 

ing his opinions to those of his electors completed 
his conversion — at any rate in appearance, Rick- 
lin became anti-governmental and a frequent at- 
tendant of the religious services in his parish. A 
short time after his election the Government 
brutally deprived him of the mayoralty of Danne- 
marie. Very selfish, the member for Altkirch- 
Thann then threw himself into the most violent 
opposition. 

Preiss always distrusted this tardy recruit. A 
long time before Ricklin betrayed the Alsatian 
cause, he foresaw that defection, which was pre- 
cipitated by his caustic criticisms. In 1911, at the 
time of the discussion of the constitutional reform 
of Alsace-Lorraine, Ricklin, more prudent and 
more diplomatic, however, than Vonderscheer, 
engaged in the most suspicious manoeuvres and 
thus gained the friendship of Secretary of State 
Zorn von Bulach. The year following he became, 
thanks to Government support, President of the 
Second Chamber of Strassburg, and after that he 
impudently paraded his Germanism. At the be- 
ginning of the war, Ricklin delivered wildly patri- 
otic speeches; he even went as far as denouncing 
and threatening the Francophile populations of 
the annexed provinces. He has again put on his 
uniform of an officer of the reserve, after having, 
a few years before, noisily resigned his post as 



198 BEHIND THE SCENES 

assistant army doctor. Whereas his colleagues, 
formerly the most compromised, observe an atti- 
tude of reserve, he seeks for every opportunity of 
giving pledges to the military government. 

Ricklin is cunning and shrewd, but likewise 
brutal. Inordinately ambitious and sordidly 
avaricious, his sole desire is for honours and 
money. In order to obtain them he is ready to 
pass over the bodies of his closest friends. He is 
certainly the most detestable of all the rallies. 

Poor Vonderscheer, who got M. Spiess's seat 
at Schlestadt, exhibited the same failings, but his 
evolution was less brilliant, because the man was 
more in the shade. A lawyer with no ability, his 
great ambition was to obtain an important no- 
tary's office from the Ministry. He was tenacious 
in his ambitions, but very timid by temperament. 
Over the steps he took to attain his end he was 
very long, and he moved in the midst of the great- 
est mystery. In the presence of his colleagues, he 
derived a certain amount of glory from his rela- 
tionship with a French general. We were igno- 
rant of the fact that, whilst he was multiplying 
his protests of friendship towards France, he was 
maintaining the most cordial relations with the 
members of the Strassburg Government. By 
means of intrigues, he succeeded in getting himself 
elected President of the Alsace-Lorraine Centre, 



IN THE REICHSTAG 199 

and such was his duplicity that we regarded this 
election as a brilliant success for our national 
cause. But the very next day he sold us to Baron 
von Bulach. His treason became patent in 1911. 
He it was who, behind our backs, negotiated, on 
the one hand with the Chancellor, on the other 
with the German Centre, the constitutional com- 
promise which was to hand Alsace-Lorraine over 
to Prussia. There were stormy scenes at that 
time between Vonderscheer and the other mem- 
bers of our group. The petty Strassburg law- 
yer, who thought that he had at last got his no- 
tary's office, nevertheless threw down his mask and 
shamefully betrayed us. Expelled from the 
party, he no longer had the courage to ask his 
electors to re-elect him. Baron von Bulach paid 
for the services that Vonderscheer had rendered 
by giving him a small post in the magistracy. 
Since then, the ex-Deputy, returning to the ob- 
scurity from which he ought never to have come, 
has seen all the people of Alsace-Lorraine turn 
from him in disgust. 

I have yet to mention another renegade — the 
lawyer Gregoire, of Metz. He, at any rate, had 
the frankness from the very first to display his 
Germanophile sentiments openly. His mother 
and wife, moreover, were German. 

Gregoire had tried to place his hand on his 



200 BEHIND THE SCENES 

colleague of Lorraine, M. Charles de Wendel. A 
short time before his election, this great manufac- 
turer of Lorraine had had to resume his Alsace- 
Lorraine nationality in order to prevent the man- 
agement of the important works of Hayange 
passing into the hands of a German. Of entirely 
French education, he had an inborn repugnance 
to manifestations of Germanism. He was seen 
but little in Berlin; but, on his rare appearances, 
he always joined forces with the Alsace-Lorraine 
group, whereas Gregoire, who had had himself 
inscribed as a "guest" in the National-Liberal 
fraction, regularly gave his votes to Bassermann 
and his friends. 

When the question of the renewal of the mili- 
tary septennate came before the Imperial Parlia- 
ment, Charles de Wendel was the object of the 
most pressing solicitations. The majority was 
doubtful. A single vote might decide the fate of 
the Bill. Gregoire would not let go of his col- 
league, who was also constantly summoned to the 
Councillors of the Chancellery, who, in order to 
make him give way, employed the vilest means of 
blackmailing him. Persecution assumed such pro- 
portions that the wretched Charles de Wendel, 
tossed about between his political convictions and 
his business interests, came to the point of no 
longer knowing where his duty lay. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 201 

Half an hour before the vote took place I was 
conversing with him in the lobbies. When the 
division bell rang and announced that the fatal 
hour had come, the Lorraine Deputy made an 
energetic gesture, uttered in an angry voice ( God 
pardon him!) the word that made Cambronne 
famous, and rushed out of the Reichstag, never 
to appear there again. The Government was 
enraged at his abstention. Charles de Wendel, 
disgusted with the persecutions of which he was 
the object since then, soon returned to Paris, 
where he hastened to resume his French nation- 
ality. 

I shall not speak of other colleagues who al- 
ways did their duty courageously, because the 
good I should say of them might expose them to 
reprisals. I feel that my pen, in the course of 
this narrative, is often arrested by that scruple. 
It is obviously impossible to relate the history of 
Alsace-Lorraine during the last forty-seven years 
until the day on which the basely vindictive Ger- 
mans have evacuated the country. At present, 
they still hold too many hostages to make it pos- 
sible to tell the whole comforting truth. 



202 BEHIND THE SCENES 



CHAPTER X 

My Defence of Alsace-Lorraine 

A Speech — Receptions — Our Guests. 

As information, I think it will be well if I repro- 
duce here the principal passages of a speech which 
I delivered from the tribune of the Reichstag on 
January 28th, 1911, on the occasion of the debate 
on the constitutional reform of Alsace-Lorraine. 
Readers will note in it certain artifices of language 
to which we were obliged to have recourse to ex- 
press our secret thoughts, but for which we should 
have incurred the severities of the law. I trans- 
late from the official stenographic report of the 
sitting. 

Gentlemen, — For the past two days the representa- 
tives of the Government and the Liberal and Conserva- 
tive speakers have placed our population upon its trial. 
To be just, however, one must distribute responsibilities 
better. The great obstacle to the normal development 
of the country is to be found in the fact that there has 
been with us, during the past forty years, two popula- 
tions, living side by side, without understanding each 
other, each of whom retain their customs and traditions, 



IN THE REICHSTAG 203 

and who often end In fighting. We have not the slight- 
est intention of generalising. A large number of our 
compatriots, old Germans, have allowed themselves to be 
assimilated; but there are others who still behave as 
conquerors, and thence arise the greatest difficulties. 

We are constantly asked for guarantees. What guar- 
antees must we give you? We pay our taxes, we respect 
authority — as far as it merits it — (loud laughter), and 
the children of the country frequent the schools and the 
German barracks. (Interruptions on the benches of 
the Federal Council.) Moreover, all the men who have 
occupied themselves with politics during the past twenty 
years have declared a hundred times that they accept 
the present situation. What more do you require? 
With what thermometer do you propose to measure the 
heat of our patriotism? When shall we come of age? 
When shall we be considered worthy of sitting at the 
table of the Empire on an equality with the members 
of the German nation? We are given only evasive re- 
plies ; you refuse to recognise our rights. And if the 
incident of which so much has been said had not oc- 
curred, others would have been found — ( cries of "Very 
good!" from the Socialist benches) — to deprive us of 
our liberties. (Continued cries from the Socialists.) 

Gentlemen, even a marriage of convenience may be 
successful, but on condition that one of the partners 
does not constantly ill-treat the other. It is said that 
there are women who like to be beaten. I have never 
heard the same thing said about a nation. As M. 
Preiss has already said, you have annexed, not a tribe 
of negroes, but a highly civilised people — even much more 



204 BEHIND THE SCENES 

civilised, in those days at least, than the Junkers of the 
East, allow me to point out to those gentlemen on the 
Right. (Cries of dissent.) 

Our only crime, Gentlemen, is that we have been 
French. We are punished because we have lived for 
two hundred years under French domination. 

There is evidently a profound abyss between the two 
groups of our population. Especially do we realise 
this when we read the malignant articles in which a 
number of men in the pay of the country calumniate 
our population and misconstrue the smallest incident — 
(cries of dissent) — in such a way that the situation 
can no longer be sanely judged. 

Gentlemen, I have been a journalist for seventeen 
years. I have often been reproached for being violent 
and sarcastic in my writings. Well, I can certify that 
all my articles were merely replies to attacks. (Herr 
Mandel, "Even your articles against me?") Yes, Mr. 
Secretary of State, even those ; for at the Landesaus- 
schuss, as elsewhere, it was you who opened fire. There 
also I only replied. 

Every piece of child's play is transformed into an 
affair of State. Look at the Wegelin case at Miilhaus- 
en. A Swiss, having drunk a little more than was good 
for him, has the "Marseillaise" played and engages in 
a little ill-timed demonstration which his nearest neigh- 
bours hardly noticed. In consequence of this incident, 
the whole heavy machinery of the law is set in movement 
and the entire population of Alsace-Lorraine is pun- 
ished. The affair of the flag of the Colmar theatre, of 
which Herr Dirksen has spoken, will shortly result in a 
trial, and once more we shall find that it is a mere trifle. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 205 

Our Secretary of State has also been a victim of the 
correspondents of the Pan-German newspapers. You 
know the story of Valentin's dog, and how on that occa- 
sion we all had to defend Herr von Bulach. The 
Statthalter himself has been the object of attacks on 
the part of those individuals ; for every statesman who 
shows us the least kindness is immediately denounced 
in Berlin and nailed to the pillory in the Pan-German 
organs. 

There you have the principal motive for our earnest 
desire to be at last masters in our own house. We 
wish to put an end to these denunciations made in Ber- 
lin, we no longer wish to be directed by Berlin, and we 
know very well that on the day our officials have noth- 
ing more to expect from elsewhere, they will end by 
uniting in fellowship with us. In the meanwhile, they 
form an exclusive caste, intent above all in safeguard- 
ing its privileges. 

Twenty-four years ago, Herr Petri, Under-Secretary 
of State, already protested with the greatest energy 
against the calumniatory articles of the Pan-German 
Press, and pointed out that the intention of their au- 
thors was to prevent us attaining our autonomy. There- 
fore, there is nothing new in the phenomenon. 

The saddest part about this affair, Gentlemen, is that 
all of you who listen to me, or almost all, take your 
knowledge of the affairs of Alsace-Lorraine from that 
newspaper correspondence. ("Hear, hear!") The ma- 
jority of you have not the slightest idea of what is 
happening with us and have never taken the trouble 
to go and make inquiries on the spot. The Pan-Ger- 
man sheets are your daily bread and from them you 



206 BEHIND THE SCENES 

form your opinion regarding Alsace-Lorraine. ("Hear, 
hear!") 

The system employed up to now has failed. You 
have now an opportunity of doing good work and giving 
satisfaction to Alsace-Lorraine. When you have 
granted complete autonomy to our provinces, all the 
painful incidents of recent times will disappear. We 
ask merely to be treated as equals in the national fam- 
ily into which we were forced and no longer to be the 
collective property of the States but co-proprietors of 
the Empire. That is our right. And if it sometimes 
happens that we give way to our somewhat fiery tem- 
perament, if events which displease you still sometimes 
occur in Alsace-Lorraine, recollect that the French have 
already said of us — "A headstrong people, but sound 
of heart." 

And now I will ask you the following question, "What 
has been done to merit our affection?" 

Immediately after the annexation, all the young men 
of Alsace-Lorraine were subjected to military service, 
which resulted — and rightly so — in an emigration en 
masse. It was possible to act otherwise, as was done 
in the case of Heligoland. 

After that came the incident of those who were called 
upon to choose their nationality. The Under-Secretary 
of State himself will confirm the enormous difficulties 
arising through the law; for even now cases crop up 
in which, despite all his knowledge, it is difficult for 
him to decide the question of nationality. 

Thirty-one years of dictatorship! Gentlemen, it is 
absolutely impossible for you to form an idea of that 
dictatorship. One must have felt its weight in order 



IN THE REICHSTAG 207 

to be able to realise it. I myself have seen the suppres- 
sion of two prosperous journals, in the establishment 
of which I assisted, and which the Statthalter swept out 
of existence by a stroke of his pen. A capital of 70,000 
francs (£2,800) was thereby destroyed. 

And the expulsions ! They were not, perhaps, nu- 
merous ; nevertheless, those who were driven out of the 
country were German citizens to whom the general laws 
of the country ought to have been applied. 

Then there was the question of passports. Only those 
people through whose instrumentality sons, who had 
been summoned to their parents' death-bed, were ar- 
rested at the frontier know how hard that exceptional 
measure was. Passports were no longer necessary in 
Turkey, and I believe that even the Young Turks have 
abolished them. 

Gentlemen, to prove to you with what little regard we 
are treated, I will call your attention to one more 
fact. For the past four years the Landesausschuss 
has asked every session that refractory conscripts and 
deserters of the early years following the annexation — 
that is to say, the period during which it was excusable 
to leave the country in order to avoid service in the 
German Army — should be amnestied. On several occa- 
sions, our Government has given us the assurance that it 
would intervene energetically in Berlin, in order to give 
us satisfaction. Up to this very day nothing has come. 
Even this little concession is not made to us. It is true 
that the military authorities are opposed to it. 

And now let us speak of the regulations regarding 
shop-signs and advertisements. Every time I walk un- 
der the Lindens, I am amused by the fact that fifty per 



208 BEHIND THE SCENES 

cent, of the sign-boards to be seen there would be for- 
bidden by the police with us. ("Hear, hear!") 

Moreover, Gentlemen, I am going to prove to you 
that our government is the first to break the law. (Here 
the speaker drew a packet of cigarettes from his pock- 
et.) Our tradesmen are forbidden to sell their goods 
with French labels. Now, on this packet of cigarettes 
I read these words in German: "Kaiserliche Tabakman- 
ufaktur Strassbwrg." But I also find in French, "Ex- 
portation — Importation, 20 cigarettes elegantes. 
Maryland, he Paquet, 50 pfennig." (Prolonged laugh- 
ter.) Those gentlemen of the Government are well 
aware, therefore, of the advantages to be derived from 
French labels, but they forbid our poor tradesmen to 
follow their example, even though by so doing they ruin 
them. 

What is to be said, too, regarding the struggle 
against the teaching of French? Secretary of State 
Delbriick told you the day before yesterday that in 
1870 an overwhelming majority of the inhabitants of 
Alsace-Lorraine spoke German. Under those conditions 
the prohibition of French in our frontier country was 
at least useless. Only those among us who feel a real 
need of this language take the trouble to learn it. Now, 
the following phenomenon has arisen. Our country is 
inundated with bilingual Swiss and Luxemburgers, who 
come and take away from our young men the best posi- 
tions in private industry. 

I shall not insist on the subject of secret police re- 
ports and black lists. These latter, Mr. Secretary of 
State, still exist, notwithstanding all denials. (Cries of 
"Very good!" from the Socialists.) 



IN THE REICHSTAG 209 

Nor shall I speak of the constant supervision to 
which our leading men are subjected. If I have taken 
all these measures into account, it is solely for the pur- 
pose of establishing the fact that our conquerors — for 
it is always necessary to use that word — have done 
everything in their power to molest us in our habits and 
customs. And yet the measures of a general nature are 
even less irritating than the pettifogging litigation to 
which our people are subjected by small and middle- 
class officials. The Government has often committed 
blunders, but these become insupportable when subordi- 
nates make them theirs — those subordinates who operate 
in the Pan-German way. 

And now, Gentlemen, a final question. What are the 
accusations brought against us? Nothing must be hid- 
den ! We are reproached with our hostility towards 
Germany and our sympathy for France. 

We do not oppose Germanism in itself, but German- 
ism as it is manifested with us — that meddlesome, petti- 
fogging Germanism which is constantly fighting against 
our customs and traditions and which would deprive us 
of all our liberties. 

Gentlemen, it is said that confidence inspires confi- 
dence. It is equally true that distrust engenders dis- 
trust. (Laughter.) It is indisputable that for the 
past forty years we have incessantly been treated with 
distrust. And yet you would have us fall into your 
arms and overwhelm you with declarations of love? Cer- 
tainly not! (Laughter.) 

Proof of the maladroitness of the methods employed 
in our case is to be found in the fact that Herr Preiss 
has already pointed out and that each of my colleagues 



210 BEHIND THE SCENES 

can confirm. The young generation Is further away 
than ours from that petty, mean and tormenting Ger- 
manism. Soon we shall be Moderates, and pointed out 
as models for the newcomers. (Prolonged laughter.) 

Now, as regards our sympathy for France. Gentle- 
men, first of all allow me to tell you that we have no 
reason for detesting our former Fatherland. Under 
French domination we were very well treated. We en- 
joyed all the advantages of common law. The people 
of Alsace-Lorraine attained the highest positions. Even 
since the war, those of our compatriots who have emi- 
grated have in many cases had a brilliant career beyond 
the Vosges. Take, for instance, the higher officers of 
the Army. I believe that in the French Army there are 
no fewer than 150 Generals in active service or unat- 
tached who are natives of the annexed provinces. Now, 
Gentlemen, count those of Alsace-Lorraine who have ob- 
tained official positions in their own country. I can tell 
you beforehand that you will arrive at a very poor per- 
centage. 

Our young people affirm — whether rightly or wrongly 
is a question which would take us too long to examine — 
that even when at school they are systematically placed 
in the background. It is certain that in none of the 
Confederated States could one find, at least formerly, 
so many pupils who failed to rise in their forms. It is 
evident, therefore, that there is a system in force to 
prevent young Alsace-Lorrainers from continuing their 
studies and attaining official positions. (Interruptions 
and cries of "Give your proofs.") 

I am going to give you a proof which nobody can 
confute. We have done everything in our power, re- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 211 

cently, to reserve at least the small official posts for our 
compatriots. The people of Alsace-Lorraine have al- 
ways been considered excellent soldiers. It has been easy 
to induce them to re-enlist when lower official posts were 
reserved for those soldiers who had served twelve years. 
Now, what happened on the day we were able to supply 
almost the whole of our staff? In 1904 the Minister 
of War issued a decree in accordance with which fifty 
per cent, of small official posts in Alsace-Lorraine were 
henceforth to be reserved for re-enlisted non-commis- 
sioned officers of the other Confederated States, on the 
only condition that they had done their service in the 
country of the Empire. Let those non-commissioned 
officers ask for posts in their own country! (Cries of 
"Quite right" from the Centre.) But in that way they 
attained their aim : Alsace-Lorraine was colonised by 
old Germans — a veritable Polish colonisation, although 
by roundabout means. 

When people speak of French tendencies, they have 
again another object in view. Your present and ours 
are parallel. For the past forty years we have belonged 
to the same country and our destinies are the same. But, 
Gentlemen, our pasts fork in different directions. No- 
body can prevent our recollections going back to the 
French period, and it is quite natural that these recol- 
lections, which were often glorious, do not conform to 
yours. How can you ask us, for instance, to celebrate 
the anniversary of Sedan? I can very well understand 
that you are proud of the recollection of that day. But 
you cannot ask the inhabitants of Alsace-Lorraine to 
rejoice on the anniversary of the day on which their 
fathers and brothers were beaten — no, Gentlemen, you 



212 BEHIND THE SCENES 

cannot ask that of men who are conscious of their dig- 
nity. You must make your mind clear about this — our 
history is not your history. Let it suffice that you hear 
us say that, at the present time, our economic interests 
conform to yours. 

Finally, Gentlemen, our sympathy towards France 
also includes our double culture. We cling to that cul- 
ture, and whatever may be done we will not allow it to 
be taken away from us. ("Hear, hear!") It is advan- 
tageous and we should be the poorer if we renounced it. 
The majority among you, Gentlemen, have taken a good 
deal of trouble to learn a foreign language, in order to 
be able to draw upon the literary treasures of that lan- 
guage. Must we, who, in the course of two centuries, 
have painfully learnt a little French, give it up? No! 
Gentlemen, we shall retain what we have acquired. There 
is nothing subversive in that. We are merely appealing 
to the right of a nation which respects itself and would 
safeguard its intellectual patrimony. 

I was very amused to hear, in the course of the pre- 
ceding speeches, that the Alsace-Lorraine nation pre- 
served, on the whole, a calm and loyal attitude. It ap- 
pears that there are only a few abettors of disorder — 
(laughter) — and it is because of these that the whole 
legislative machinery must be set in motion. Gentle- 
men, you yourselves do not believe it. An Empire of 66 
million inhabitants is frightened of a handful of agita- 
tors in a province where 80,000 bayonets are planted? 
If what was said in those speeches partly applies to 
m} 7 self — I hope I shall not be counted among the abet- 
tors of disorder — I shall be more than proud of having 



IN THE REICHSTAG 213 

thus thrown the whole Empire into a flurry. (Laugh- 
ter.) 

Gentlemen, we find ourselves enclosed within a vicious 
circle. We are ill-treated because we are not satisfied, 
and discontent increases among us because our ill-treat- 
ment is continued. ("Hear, hear," and laughter.) 

The system employed up to now has failed. You 
have now an opportunity of doing good work, of giving 
us an Alsace-Lorraine satisfied with its lot. 

Readers will have noticed in the preceding 
speech the stress I employed when speaking of 
the two populations which live side by side in 
Alsace-Lorraine without understanding each oth- 
er and without interpenetration. Nothing exas- 
perated the immigrants more than that statement, 
to which we returned incessantly. Thus it was 
that, in my newspaper, I had a special rubric 
entitled "Their Culture," in which, from day to 
day, I pointed out the differences between the 
customs, habits and traditions of the Alsace-Lor- 
raine population and those of the Germans estab- 
lished in our country. The immigrants would 
very much have preferred sledge-hammer pro- 
tests to these perpetual pin-pricks, against which 
they could not defend themselves, and in the giv- 
ing of which two or three of my collaborators, 
especially Hansi, excelled. 

For want of being able to shout "Long live 



214 BEHIND THE SCENES 

France!" we had thus come to repeat incessantly 
"Down with German culture!" We were not 
in want of pretexts. If need be, we brought them 
forth. 

Above, I spoke of a reception at the Chancel- 
lor's Palace. Every year the Secretaries of State 
also gave a Bierabend — a Beer Evening. When 
I went to the Reichstag for the first time, an 
usher begged me to give him thirty of my visit- 
ing cards. 

"Why, in the name of all that's wonderful?" 
I asked. 

"It's the custom. Your cards will be sent to the 
President, Vice-President and Secretaries, to the 
Chancellor and his principal collaborators." 

I made inquiries, and found indeed that it was 
usual, at the beginning of each session, for the 
members to leave their visiting cards at the resi- 
dences of the chief officials of the Empire, through 
the intermediary of the executive of the Reichstag. 
So I observed the formality, and a few days later 
received, also from the usher's hand, a number 
of paste-boards of all sizes, by means of which 
the owners responded to my politeness. 

Later, I learnt what this exchange of official 
amiability signified. A few Socialist Deputies 
had given an insolent reply to the invitations sent 
them to attend official receptions. Someone had 



IN THE REICHSTAG 215 

therefore imagined the plan of leaving visiting- 
cards, which meant, "If you invite me, I am quite 
disposed to attend your evening receptions." The 
Socialists, at least those of former days, did not 
leave their cards on the high officials of the State, 
who could henceforth abstain from sending them 
invitations without breaking the rules of polite- 
ness. 

Like my colleagues, I therefore regularly re- 
ceived the little printed invitations begging me to 
come and take, on such-and-such a day, a glass 
of beer at his Excellency's. 

"A glass of beer" may appear to be a some- 
what Spartan repast. As a matter of fact, we 
found the refreshment rooms in the official salons 
well provided with food and drink, which the 
guests pillaged impudently. During these re- 
ceptions I have witnessed amazingly comical 
scenes. The tables on which the eatables were 
piled were literally besieged. German voracity 
is beyond all moderation and deficient in all sense 
of shame. Certain members of the Reichstag — 
and not the least important of them — heaped 
ham, pies, Russian salad, cream tarts and other 
"delicacies" on their plates to the point of bring- 
ing the cunning construction of all these dainties 
to a state of smash. Then, duly loaded, they in- 
stalled themselves at little tables and devoured 



216 BEHIND THE SCENES 

all these dissimilar cates pell-mell. But it was 
chiefly the refreshment counter where alcoholic 
drinks were dispensed that sustained a regular 
siege. One evening, I got immense amusement 
by observing the "operations" of a Bavarian col- 
league who, having succeeded in getting in the 
front row of those crowding to the table, gulped 
down, one after the other, no fewer than ten 
glasses of champagne and still continued to hold 
out his empty glass to the astonished waiter. These 
scenes of gluttony and drunkenness delighted us. 
You might have imagined that these men, who, 
however, belonged to the best German families, 
had had nothing either to drink or eat for a week. 

My colleagues and I long hesitated over the 
question as to whether or not we ought to attend 
these official receptions. After due reflection, we 
came to the common agreement that it would be 
well for us to attend them assiduously, because 
there, more than anywhere else, was it possible 
for us to obtain useful information. A half -drunk 
German is very communicative. 

A strange adventure happened to me the first 
time I went to the Chancellery. The reception 
— a strictly Parliamentary one — began at 9 p. m. 
Thinking that politeness demanded punctuality, I 
entered the Wilhelmstrasse Palace exactly at the 
hour. In the cloak-room, not a hat was to be 



IN THE REICHSTAG 217 

seen ! At the top of the staircase was a succession 
of brilliantly illuminated salons, in which I could 
see rows of gold-laced lackeys, who, as I passed, 
bowed low. Very much put out, I advanced hap- 
hazard, whereupon an orderly officer rushed for- 
ward, asked for my name, and introduced me into 
the last drawing-room, where Princess von Biilow 
was sitting by the side of a lady companion. The 
introduction took place and a conversation was 
started — in French. Thus I remained for ten 
minutes face to face with the Chancellor's wife. 
I swore, that evening, that never again would I 
be there to time. 

Receptions were almost always held on the eve 
of an important vote. It was before a well-loaded 
table and with glass in hand that the Chancellor 
and his collaborators tried to break down the final 
resistance of the Opposition and to f acilitate prof- 
itable compromises. Recalcitrant Deputies were 
the object of the most engaging attentions. To 
a disinterested guest, the scene presented the 
greatest interest. Most flattered by the amiable 
open-heartedness and smiling familiarity of the 
official personages, the Gerstenbergers and Erz- 
bergers visibly blew themselves out like the frog 
in the fable. The party leaders, already won over 
to the policy of the Government, looked with 
complacent eyes on the groups in which their 



218 BEHIND THE SCENES 

work was being completed. On all sides the Op- 
position showed a spirit of "comradeship," in an- 
swer to the Chancellor's smile. 

For a long time they deigned "to honour" us 
with the same solicitations. Later, when it be- 
came quite clear that our national opposition was 
irreducible, they showed us less assiduous atten- 
tion. 

It was during a garden-party at the Chan- 
cellery that I found myself alone with Admiral 
von Tirpitz. It was at the time when the French 
Navy, under the Pelletan Ministry, was passing 
through a dangerous crisis. 

The great head of the German Navy is a broad- 
shouldered giant with a small head enframed by 
huge whiskers. One is quite surprised to hear 
a thin little voice — that of a child or a eunuch — 
issue from his powerful frame. The Admiral 
spoke to me about the French Navy. Now it is 
a curious phenomenon that, far from rejoicing 
over its decadence, he seemed to regret it sincerely. 
It was a case of the artist who is pained to see 
a fine picture go to wrack and ruin, although it 
may be the work of a competitor. I have never 
better understood the method and obstinacy which 
the creator of the German Navy brought to his 
audacious enterprise. Tirpitz is a born sailor. 
His ships are everything to him. With so keen 



IN THE REICHSTAG 219 

an enthusiast as this at the head of the German 
Admiralty, the Imperial Navy would soon, if 
England had allowed him the time, have con- 
quered the first place on the seas. 

It was Tirpitz, indeed, who conceived the dream 
of endowing Germany with a powerful colonial 
empire and assuring its maritime hegemony. We 
are all acquainted with William II's celebrated 
phrase, "Our future is on the water." The Ad- 
miral-in-Chief was certainly its inspirer. At the 
time when I conversed for nearly half an hour 
with Tirpitz, he, who detested England above all 
nations, naively hoped that a reconciliation be- 
tween Germany and France might be prepared. 
Perhaps it was also for this reason that he de- 
plored the lamentable state of the instrument 
which he thought he might find useful in conquer- 
ing "the hereditary enemy." 

In 1906 it happened to be our turn to invite 
the members of the Federal Council and the 
Reichstag to a soiree, and under the following 
circumstances. Our Alsace-Lorraine wine-grow- 
ers complained bitterly of the fact that their re- 
markable vintages were systematically ignored in 
Germany, where, however, the wines of the Rhine 
and the Moselle were sold in all the restaurants 
at very remunerative prices. It looked as though 
the big wine merchants of Treves, Cologne, and 



220 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Mayence had formed a conspiracy of silence on 
the subject of our most celebrated vintages. It 
was necessary to defeat it. 

So the idea occurred to Preiss to organise a 
tasting of wines in the Reichstag. Our German 
colleagues welcomed the proposal enthusiastical- 
ly. The principal growers of Alsace-Lorraine 
placed at our disposal 1,500 bottles of their best 
brands. Moreover, we obtained from the Strass- 
burg Parliament a subvention which enabled us 
to organise a brilliant evening reception. 

The day was fixed with the President. The 96- 
yard-long gallery was transformed into a restau- 
rant. A luxurious refreshment-room was in- 
stalled under the big dome, and there, side by 
side with mountains of Minister cheeses and suc- 
culent Strassburg charcuterie, the 1,500 bottles, 
with their gold and silver helmets, were drawn 
up in thirty- two companies ready to file off (for 
there were thirty-two different vintages to be 
tasted ) . An orchestra was to facilitate the diges- 
tion of our guests by enveloping them in floods 
of harmony. 

At eight o'clock, drawn up on both sides of the 
entrance, the members for Alsace-Lorraine were 
busy shaking the hands of their guests : the Chan- 
cellor, the Secretaries of State, the members of 
the Federal Council, and the Deputies of all the 



IN THE REICHSTAG 221 

groups, for on that day the Socialists had given 
up the idea of boycotting Parliamentary evenings. 

Our good wines performed miracles. At eleven 
o'clock Bebel was sitting between Prince von 
Biilow and Count von Posadowsky, whilst 
Scheidemann and another revolutionary Deputy 
were delivering wildly ridiculous speeches. 

Good old Groeber ate a whole Minister, repeat- 
ing as he did so, "It's the king of cheeses." More- 
over, he washed it down with two bottles of red 
Kitterle, which he pronounced to be "the king of 
wines." 

There were rather more than three hundred 
persons in the great hall. At four o'clock in the 
morning 1,400 bottles were empty. Don't forget 
that our wines contain between ten and eleven 
degrees of alcohol. At midnight I left the Reichs- 
tag, accompanied by Secretary of State von Posa- 
dowsky. In the Thiergarten we encountered a 
Deputy tenderly embracing a tree and making 
vain efforts to preserve his equilibrium. 

Never before had the Reichstag echoed with 
such noisy but also with such cordial effusions. 

I must add, to the honour of our wines, that 
the next day several of my colleagues, including 
the Socialist Hue, said to me: 

"It's a curious thing. Yesterday evening I was 



222 BEHIND THE SCENES 

as round as a ball, yet to-day I've not got the 
slightest trace of seediness (Katzen jammer) ." 

Our wines, therefore, scored the greatest suc- 
cess at the Reichstag. Result of our tasting: not 
a single order was given to our wine-growers, 
neither by the members of the Government, nor 
by the Deputies, nor by the restaurant and hotel 
keepers of Berlin! They continued to boycott our 
natural products in favour of the adulterated 
wines of the Moselle and the Rhine. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 223 



CHAPTER XI 

War Aims Foreshadowed 

The German Artillery — General von Einem's curieus Decla- 
ration — A visit to Count Zeppelin — The Vulnerability 
of his Dirigibles — A Warlike Banquet. 

In 1903 we were invited to go on an excursion to 
the Jutterbock manoeuvring ground. A hundred 
Deputies, accompanied by the Minister of War 
and a few general officers, took a special train 
that had been reserved for them. The military- 
authorities wished to prove to them the power of 
the new ammunition for field artillery. When 
we arrived, we were shown six guns, the wheels 
of which had been buried up to the axles. After 
indirect firing at moving targets, which we could 
easily observe with our glasses, the guns were car- 
ried by soldiers to the summit of a hillock, where 
the artillerymen, after getting their spades to 
work and throwing a few spadefuls of sand 
around the wheels, proceeded to give us an exhi- 
bition of direct rapid firing. Now, I noticed that 
the pieces recoiled a good deal at each shot — exe- 
cuted, indeed, a veritable St. Vitus's Dance — and 



224. BEHIND THE SCENES 

that it was constantly necessary to rectify the 
aim. 

At the luncheon which was afterwards served 
at the officers' quarters, it chanced that General 
von Einem, the Minister of War, arriving late, 
sat down next to me. Von Einem, who has been 
a good deal talked about since the opening of the 
present war (he commands a group of armies 
before Soissons), is tall, thin, fair, and graceful. 
He possesses nothing of the stiffness of the Prus- 
sian officer. He is easy of approach and his po- 
liteness is unconstrained. He had formerly been 
in garrison at Colmar as a major in the artillery, 
so we immediately found a subject of conversa- 
tion. Then, quite naturally, we came to speak 
of war. I did not hide from the Minister the 
surprise I had experienced on noting the lack of 
stability of the German guns. 

"I know that," replied the General; "but our 
pieces of artillery are very much lighter and espe- 
cially much less complicated than our neighbours' 
75 gun. The mechanism of the French gun is 
so delicate that a workman-specialist has to be 
attached to each piece (sic)" 

The Minister afterwards made the following 
curious declaration to me: 

"When armies reach the figure of four million 
combatants on one side and three million and a 



IN THE REICHSTAG 225 

half on the other, numbers no longer play the 
same role. The armament is equal in the two 
countries. The whole question is whether the 
French will find a second Napoleon and whether 
we shall have a second Moltke. Now, we know 
nothing about that, for neither on the one side nor 
on the other is there a general who has command- 
ed on a sixty kilometre front." 

Four million German combatants ! A sixty kilo- 
metre front ! Was the General sincere when men- 
tioning these figures to me, or was his intention 
to lead me into error ? I cannot say. I am rather 
disposed to believe, however, that at that time the 
German Staff did not yet foresee either the mobil- 
isation of ten million men or, especially, the for- 
midable extension the battles of the present war 
were to assume. 

A few years later, I joined in another collec- 
tive excursion. The first German dirigible had 
just accomplished a voyage from Friedrichshaven 
to Berlin, and the performance, besides provok- 
ing the wildest enthusiasm, had raised the most 
extraordinary hopes throughout the whole of 
Germany. People abroad will never know how 
greatly the invention of the Zeppelin, or, to be 
more accurate, the ingenious adjustment by Count 
Zeppelin of a French invention, contributed to 



226 BEHIND THE SCENES 

favour the Pan-Germanist movement in the Em- 
pire. 

The first "cruisers of the air" had, however, 
been destroyed or damaged by sudden gusts of 
wind. Zeppelin, who had sacrificed the whole 
of his fortune in constructing them, found himself 
penniless. Therefore the authorities, in order to 
awaken the interest of Parliament in dirigibles, 
hit on the idea of organising the journey in which 
I took part, accompanied by all my colleagues 
of Alsace-Lorraine. 

The large hotels of Constance were reserved 
for members of Parliament. It was in July. 
Favoured with splendid weather, a special steam- 
er took us to the Wiirttemberg side of the lake. 
Never have I seen a larger assembly of people. 
The lake was covered with steamers and boats 
adorned with flags, and so loaded with spectators 
that they were in danger of sinking. The facades 
of the houses of Friedrichshaven were hidden un- 
der garlands and flags. Every moment bursts of 
cheering came from the huge crowd. When Count 
Zeppelin's white peaked cap appeared on the 
landing stage, it seemed to me as though the 
heavens were going to fall under the formidable 
and continued shouting of "Hoch! Hoch! Hoch!" 

The inventor, a small-statured, corpulent, bus- 
tling man, very supple in spite of his advanced 



IN THE REICHSTAG 227 

age, replied to these ovations with a nervous ges- 
ture. He was visibly satisfied to have his revenge ; 
for Parseval, an advocate of balloons with a sup- 
ple envelope, had caused him much anxiety. He 
received us with the greatest cordiality. Under 
the direction of himself and his engineers, we im- 
mediately set off for the airship building yard. 

An enormous carcase constructed of aluminium 
rods was shown us. I must confess that, on exam- 
ining this light structure, I had the impression 
of being face to face with a giant's plaything. 
Everything seemed fragile in that ingenious but 
unstable assemblage of thin plates barely two 
to three millimetres thick. Even the few main 
girders looked thin and slender. How well I could 
then understood that a shock against a mere apple- 
tree had, a few weeks before, shattered one of the 
monsters they were going to show us! 

A few hundred yards from the hangars, a com- 
pleted dirigible was held fast to the ground. This 
was the Zeppelin in which a few privileged guests 
were to take their seats and make an hour's excur- 
sion above the lake. Arrangements had been made 
for six voyages. As not more than a dozen pas- 
sengers, in addition to the crew, could be taken 
up each time, lots were drawn in order not to 
arouse feelings of jealousy. Preiss's name was 
drawn. I was less lucky. Just as I was resign- 



228 BEHIND THE SCENES 

ing myself to the idea of not getting a ride in the 
Zeppelin, an engineer, who had explained all the 
details of the mechanism of the airship to me, 
said, smiling: 

"Keep close to me. Perhaps I shall manage all 
the same to get you on board." 

Indeed, at the fifth voyage, Count Zeppelin, 
who each time verified the weight of his passen- 
gers, leaned over the edge of the car and ex- 
claimed with a vexed air: 

"There is a deficiency of fifty kilos.!" 

"Exactly my weight," I cried. 

"Ascend and quick's the word," replied the 
Count. 

I told an outrageous lie, for I weighed twenty 
kilos, more. 

Once installed in the middle car, I understood 
why they had accepted me as ballast. The inven- 
tor, holding in his hand the list of passengers with 
their respective weights opposite their names, 
assigned us our places in such a way as to distrib- 
ute the load equally, and urged us not to change 
our seats under any pretext whatsoever, as well 
as not to make any inordinate movements. This 
terrible war machine was decidedly still more un- 
stable than I had imagined on first seeing it. 

At the order "Let go!" the moorings were rap- 
idly removed. At the same time streams of water 



IN THE REICHSTAG 229 

came from the sides of the envelope. It was ex- 
plained to me that, on coming to earth, long con- 
duits inside the framework were filled with water, 
in order exactly to ballast the balloon, which, how- 
ever, owing to the fragility of its cars, could not 
be allowed to touch the ground. 

The dirigible rose to an altitude of about 200 
metres. It answered well to the rudders, both as 
regards direction and height. Movement was 
very smooth. On the other hand, the noise of the 
motors and the four propellers was deafening. 

Zeppelin and Professor Hergesell, of Strass- 
burg, went with us and gave full explanations. 
Among the things they told us, I remember a 
curious story, related by the inventor. 

"A few days ago, in just such marvellous 
weather as this," he said, "I was peacefully trav- 
elling along when, suddenly, on arriving above 
the little hills that encircle the Rhine at the exit 
to the lake, the dirigible, as though seized by the 
invisible hand of a giant, made a bound of 600 
metres into the air. I was terrified. Who would 
ever have thought that those slight undulations of 
the ground, forming a chimney, would have pro- 
voked such a powerful eddy-wind?" 

Certainly this invention, by means of which the 
Germans expected to conquer the empire of the 
air, lacked stability. I am aware that the most 



230 BEHIND THE SCENES 

recent Zeppelins are stronger and better balanced, 
but they are, nevertheless, very vulnerable and at 
the mercy of so many atmospheric accidents 
that we should do well not to exaggerate their 
military value. 

The spectacle we enjoyed from the dirigible 
was marvellous. 

In the evening, our steamer took us back to 
Constance, where a big banquet was given by 
Count Zeppelin. I shall say nothing about the 
enthusiastic toasts which were drunk. "The fu- 
ture of Germany was not only on the water, but 
also in the air. England would have to behave 
herself, since, henceforth, a fleet of dirigibles 
would in a few hours be able to transport an 
army to London." This and many another won- 
derful plan was to be divined in the speeches 
delivered by both the Count and his admirers. One 
could only laugh at these ridiculous exaggerations. 

On the other hand, I was deeply impressed by 
the following incident. At the end of the dinner, 
the 300 persons present — members of the Federal 
Council, high officials and Deputies — rose and 
sang in chorus "Deutsehland liber Alles." The 
almost religious gravity of their faces, the fire 
kindled in their eyes, and the warlike ardour in 
their voices were a revelation to me. These were 
no longer children chanting the Pan-German 



IN THE REICHSTAG 231 

hymn, but all the directors of Imperial policy, 
and on hearing them thus affirm their monstrous 
ambitions, in the form of a war song, I realised 
that the time was not far distant when the great 
international drama would be enacted before the 
gaze of the terrified world. 

I was, moreover, to experience the same tragic 
impression when, in 1913, the centenary of the 
Battle of Leipzig provoked throughout the Em- 
pire demonstrations which were quite as grotesque, 
but also quite as threatening. 

A mind formed in the Latin school has a diffi- 
culty in comprehending the German mentality. 
Union among Germanic nations has not been 
brought about, as in the case of the French and 
the Italians, by free consent of the people, but by 
force. Barely two and a half centuries ago Prus- 
sia was only a wretched little principality. It 
is by right of conquest that it has established its 
hegemony in Germany. To-day it still recog- 
nises no other methods of domination than those 
of brute force. Southern Germany does not love 
the Prussian: it fears him. Nevertheless, it has 
no idea of kicking against the pricks. Foreign 
races within the Empire — Poles, Danes, and the 
people of Alsace-Lorraine — have always resisted 
Prussian enterprise. The German nationalities 
have resigned themselves to accepting it. The 



232 BEHIND THE SCENES 

passivity of the German naturally inclines him 
to these abdications when face to face with a more 
powerful ethnical group. His resignation does 
not go as far as an enthusiastic rally; it is rather 
a case of submitting to the inevitable. The Prus- 
sian is a disagreeable master; but he is the master 
all the same. Therefore, what is the good of 
setting up a resistance which can bring no imme- 
diate result? The man of the North knows the 
temperament of the Southerner. Therefore he 
puts on the screw and finds it pays very well. 
Hence the unbelievable impertinence of Prussian 
statesmen, who, every time there is a slight oppo- 
sition in Parliament, immediately crack the whip, 
knowing full well beforehand that they will at 
once obtain the most passive obedience. 



IN THE REICHSTAG 233 



CHAPTER XII 

Some Prussian Types 

Haeringen, Falkenhayn, and Deimling — 1905 — Their Ur- 
banity — Their Mentality — The Galleries — Religious 
Legislation — Homogeneous Parties. 

During the present war, when reading the offi- 
cial communiques, I have come across the names 
of a number of general officers whose acquaintance 
I made in the Reichstag. General von Haer- 
ingen, the brutal destroyer of Rheims Cathedral, 
replaced von Einem at the Ministry of War. He 
is a big man with a vulgar face and a slouching 
walk, and was always tightly laced in a uniform 
too small for him. He spoke very badly, but in 
a hard, commanding tone. On the Budget Com- 
mittee, as well as during plenary sittings, this 
gold-laced brute displayed the most insulting dis- 
dain for the representatives of the people. The 
phrases which he painfully drawled out were 
chiefly distinguished for the cold impertinence he 
intentionally put into them. 

His departure was welcomed by all parties as 
a deliverance. It is true that Falkenhayn, who 



234 BEHIND THE SCENES 

succeeded him, was to make him regretted. This 
General, indeed, did not make the slightest at- 
tempt to hide his horror of Parliament and its 
principles. He sought for conflicts, and, having 
succeeded in provoking them, it was with a "surly- 
delectation," as theologians say, that he dragged 
them out. Tlje Reichstag, in his eyes, was the 
enemy, on which he made a frontal attack, with 
all his big guns in action. 

Falkenhayn's physique fits his employment. He 
is big and lean; his face, with a nose like an eagle's 
beak, is long and angular; his gestures are sharp 
and peremptory; and his shrill, jerky voice is that 
of a non-commissioned officer. The Zabern affair 
was his triumph. In the presence of the early 
condemnatory attitude of Parliament, the Chan- 
cellor capitulated. Bethmann-Hollweg hastened, 
in fact, to the Emperor and obtained from the 
Sovereign a severe reprimand against the officers 
of the 99th Infantry Regiment. But Falken- 
hayn would not accept this retreat. He demand- 
ed, imperiously, that the Statthalter and his col- 
laborators be removed. At his orders, the Council 
of War acquitted Colonel von Reuter and Lieu- 
tenants Schatt and von Forster. When, finally, 
the incident once more came before the Imperial 
Parliament, it was the Minister of War who re- 
plied to the questioners. He did so with that cold 



IN THE REICHSTAG 235 

impertinence and haughty disdain which charac- 
terise the Prussian officer. His eulogy of the Ger- 
man lieutenant, of that young sensualist who de- 
liberately tramples on all laws, but in whom Prus- 
sia places all her hopes, provoked unanimous pro- 
tests. And yet the domesticated Reichstag went 
back on its first vote, and Falkenhayn, because 
he had cracked his whip in the ears of all those 
knaves who crouched and cringed before militar- 
ism, registered a fresh triumph over the astounded 
parliamentarians. We left the Reichstag that 
day with shame on our brow and rage in our 
hearts. The German nation was certainly ripe 
for every form of servitude. 

Von Deimling had had less success a few years 
before. In those days, this skinny little man was 
only a colonel of a colonial regiment. A propos 
of a question of effectives, he had charged and 
captured the tribune, as though it were an enemy 
fort; and then had begun to thunder forth a para- 
phrase, in terms of military command, of the 
motto, "The King orders and your duty is to 
obey." At first his speech was interrupted by 
furious exclamations, but in the end everybody 
roared at the naive self-conceit of the unfortunate 
officer. Never was an official orator more cruelly 
heckled in the Imperial Parliament. 

After this, can one be surprised that this crazy 



236 BEHIND THE SCENES 

fellow, whose meninges had evidently been dried 
up by a colonial sun, committed the worst eccen- 
tricities when, later, the Emperor entrusted him 
with the command of the troops occupying Alsace- 
Lorraine? General von Deimling's quarrels with 
the Government and the Strassburg Press were 
epic. Once more people decided to laugh at the 
stupid affectation of this hare-brained creature, 
who, however, at the time of the Zabern affair, pro- 
voked the gravest disputes. 

In 1905 I was directly concerned in the negoti- 
ations which took place a propos of the Algeciras 
Conference. 

It will be difficult for me to say everything 
about the incidents of the months of May and 
June of that critical year. Therefore I shall speak 
with the discretion which circumstances still im- 
pose on me. The French Chamber had been 
greatly alarmed by the first German ultimatum 
relative to the convocation of the Algeciras Con- 
ference, demanded by Germany. A French states- 
man, who had urgently summoned me to Paris, 
asked me to obtain accurate information regard- 
ing the Chancellor's intentions. Thus, I came to 
have a long conversation with Herr von Muhl- 
berg, to whom Herr von Richthofen, then Secre- 
tary of State at the Foreign Office, sent me. The 
following is a summary of the declarations Herr 



IN THE REICHSTAG 237 

von Muhlberg made to me, whilst authorising me 
to communicate them to whom they concerned: 

"The Madrid Convention of 1880 bears the sig- 
nature of Germany. The Anglo-French Agree- 
ment of 1904 protests our signature without our 
consent. Our national honour is at stake. We 
are therefore obliged to demand that all the sig- 
natories of the Madrid Convention be called to- 
gether again. We know that we shall be in a 
minority at this conference, but our honour will 
be saved. As to M. Delcasse, whether he remains 
at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or not is a 
question with which we have nothing whatever to 
do. However, I wish to inform you that we shall 
converse with him no longer." 

I went to Paris to transmit these declarations. 
It was at the time the King of Spain was expected 
there. M. Delcasse's resignation was not official- 
ly known until after the departure of Alphonse 
XIII. Germany, however, was informed about 
it immediately. 

Four weeks later, having returned to Colmar, 
I received two telegrams, summoning me to Paris. 
Suspecting that Moroccan affairs were again at 
stake, I wrote to Herr von Richthofen that if he 
had a communication to make to me he might send 
it to me at the Hotel Victoria. This is what had 
happened. In the absence of Prince von Radolin, 



238 BEHIND THE SCENES 

when the Franco-German negotiations seemed to 
be following their normal course, Herr von Flot- 
tow, the German Charge d' Affaires, had pre- 
sented a fresh comminatory Note, which had 
greatly disturbed the Government of the Repub- 
lic. M. Rouvier was quite determined not to give 
way, although he hoped to be informed in a pre- 
cise manner regarding the intentions of German 
diplomacy. 

I knew nothing, but I informed the delegate 
of the Ministry of the precaution I had taken 
before leaving Colmar. He thanked me and 
asked me to communicate to him, without delay, 
anything that came to my knowledge. In fact, 
two days before Whitsuntide, I received from 
Berlin the following unsigned telegram, in Ger- 
man: 

"Ambassador returns to Paris to-morrow Sat- 
urday morning. Will receive you eleven o'clock." 

Before going to the appointment, I saw again 
the person who transmitted the instructions of 
the Minister to me. I was entrusted with the fol- 
lowing message to Prince von Radolin: 

"France has gone to the extreme limit of the 
concessions she can make. During the past four 
weeks the Minister of War has taken every step 
to guard against a sudden attack, and the Gov- 
ernment, moreover, has secured the support of 



IN THE REICHSTAG 239 

England. Therefore, it can accept no further 
comminatory Note." 

This was clear, firm, categorical. On reaching 
the Rue de Lille, I was immediately shown into 
Prince von Radolin's private study. The Am- 
bassador told me that he had seen William II the 
day before, that the Emperor was very nervous, 
and that the instructions he had received from 
him left no room for fresh negotiations. 

"Very well, your Excellency," I replied. "Then 
there is nothing for you to do but to pack your 
trunks. M. Rouvier will hand you your passports 
this afternoon." 

Prince von Radolin gave a start. 

"But I don't want to leave Paris," he cried. 
"I like Paris very much indeed and I've some ex- 
cellent friends here." 

A very animated discussion then followed be- 
tween the German diplomatist and myself. The 
result was that we set to work to draw up a long 
telegram, in which the Ambassador summed up 
the declarations I had transmitted to him. When 
we reached the passage in which English assist- 
ance was to be mentioned, I proposed the follow- 
ing wording: 

"England is ready to send 100,000 men to the 
Continent immediately." 



240 BEHIND THE SCENES 

"Suppose we put 300,000?" exclaimed Prince 
von Radolin. 

Much surprised at this whim of the diploma- 
tist, I pointed out to him the necessity, in order 
to obtain an immediate result, of remaining with- 
in the bounds of probability. He admitted it with 
a certain amount of sadness. 

I have always retained an amused recollection 
of this incident. Prince von Radolin at that time 
had clearly but one concern — to intimidate his 
Government, in order not to be obliged to leave 
his dear Paris. 

The despatch was immediately sent to Berlin. 
I left the Embassy at noon. At five o'clock the 
Prince called on M. Rouvier, and it looked as 
though he had received fresh instructions, for the 
interview had a character, if not of great cordial- 
ity, at least of perfect politeness. Meanwhile, I 
had given an account of my interview with the 
Ambassador to the delegate of the President of 
the Council. 

I must confess that rarely have I experienced 
such great anxiety as I did during that day. 
Prince von Radolin had invited me to lunch the 
next day, Whitsuntide, at the Embassy, but I 
declined, as I was anxious to get back to Colmar. 

At the opening of the war of 1914, the former 
German Ambassador in Paris was the object of 



IN THE REICHSTAG 241 

suspicion on the part of the Imperial Govern- 
ment, and the news agencies even reported that 
he had been interned. I should therefore have 
abstained from recording my conversation of 1905 
with the German diplomatist but for the fact that 
he recently died. 

The politeness of Herr von Richthofen was al- 
most affected. However, it sometimes happened 
that in his case also the coarse Prussian reap- 
peared in the courteous diplomatist. 

A few weeks before the incident I have just 
related, I went one morning to the Foreign Office 
to attend to an urgent piece of business. Send- 
ing in my card to Herr von Richthofen, I was 
immediately shown into his office, although a 
slender old gentleman had preceded me into the 
salon and, seated in an arm-chair, seemed to be 
discreetly and patiently waiting until he was 
called. 

"Your Excellency," I said to the Secretary of 
State, "there is an old gentleman in the ante-room 
that you might receive before me. I am not in 
a hurry." 

"Not at all," replied Herr von Richthofen, 
laughing. "He's only the representative of the 
French Republic." 

It was, indeed, the aged Marquis de Noailles, 
French Ambassador to Berlin. 



242 BEHIND THE SCENES 

I could hardly contain myself, so atrocious did 
this gratuitous insult to France appear to me. The 
Prussian Minister certainly expressed it before 
an Alsatian Deputy intentionally, in order to 
show in what small esteem he held the country 
to which my colleagues and I were attached by 
all our heart-strings. 

With supreme "cheek," my colleagues of the 
Reichstag applied to all foreign nations nick- 
names that crystallised their hatred and disdain. 
The English were "the shop-keepers of London," 
the Montenegrins "ram-thieves," and the Serbians 
"rat-trap dealers." Even the Allies of the Em- 
pire did not escape this mania for giving insulting 
names to everyone who had not the honour of 
belonging to the lordly race. The Austrians were 
commonly called "heroes in slippers" (Pantofel- 
helden) and the Italians "the riff-raff of the Tri- 
ple Alliance" (Dreibundshalunken) . Never did 
Erzberger employ any other terms to designate 
those whom he tried to win over, at the beginning 
of the war, to the cause of his country. Ah! if 
only the Italians had known how they were de- 
tested and despised in Berlin. As to the Span- 
iards, the Pan-German Press incessantly stated 
that these poor "orange-eaters" had reached the 
last stage of idiocy. If I had the time, I should 



IN THE REICHSTAG 243 

form a collection of these coarse insults and dedi- 
cate them to Seflor Maura. 

The ultra-patriots of Greater Germany had 
thus created a curious state of mind not only 
among the people but also in the German Parlia- 
ment. The further they went, the more the rep- 
resentatives of "the supreme race" puffed them- 
selves out with pride. Everything which was not 
Germanic merited but disdain. The Empire vol- 
untarily isolated itself in the midst of barbarian 
or degenerate races. And thus the ruling idea 
of Pan-Germanism — the Germans alone possess 
a genius for invention and organisation, therefore 
they have an absolute right to impose their domi- 
nation on nations incapable of exploiting their 
riches rationally — ended by imposing itself on ap- 
parently the clearest minds. A thousand times 
have I heard these divagations issue from the 
mouths of members of Parliament who spoke quite 
reasonably on other subjects. It was an inter- 
esting phenomenon to observe. Undoubtedly it 
was a case of collective insanity. 

The principal reason why William II became 
unpopular in Germany was his well-known hesi- 
tancy and pusillanimity, whereas the whole pop- 
ulation was in favour of a more aggressive inter- 
national policy. In 1913 and in the spring of 
1914 the Berlin crowds were sulky with the Em- 



244 BEHIND THE SCENES 

peror, whilst the Crown Prince was the object of 
noisy ovations every time he appeared in public. 
During the months immediately preceding the 
outbreak of war, the Prince Imperial was on tem- 
porary duty at the Prussian Home Office. Now, 
at nine o'clock every morning, the students as- 
sembled in front of the Linden Palace to cheer 
the heir to the throne, in the most noisy manner. 
The fair-haired, degenerate youth seemed to take 
the greatest pleasure in these demonstrations, 
which were directed against his father. We must 
not be too surprised at this. Such cases of oppo- 
sition are common in the Hohenzollern family. 
Who has forgotten the indecent impatience shown 
by the man who was to become William II, during 
the Emperor Frederick's death agony, which 
lasted longer than his successor liked? 

I was present at that scene in the Reichstag, 
about which so much has been said, when the 
Crown Prince applauded the bellicose declara- 
tions of the Conservative member Heydebrandt. 
The Prince, seated in the front row of the Impe- 
rial box, was laughing heartily, and every time 
the speaker thundered forth one of his tirades 
against the Chancellor, he thumped the balustrade 
with his gloved hand. His provocative attitude 
created a scandal in the Reichstag, but the next 



IN THE REICHSTAG 245 

day the whole of the Pan-German Press covered 
the heir to the throne with flowers. 

On the occasion of great sittings, and particu- 
larly when foreign politics were being discussed, 
the Imperial box was occupied by the young 
princes and the Court dignitaries. The neigh- 
bouring gallery, reserved for the Diplomatic 
Corps, presented the same animation. As to the 
public galleries, they were always crowded. Ad- 
mission was by cards, which were handed every 
day to the heads of the groups, taking into ac- 
count the numerical importance of the parlia- 
mentary fractions. We had only a dozen cards 
at our disposal. The number of applicants was 
always triple. When a stormy debate was ex- 
pected the Reichstag was literally besieged. Only 
those furnished with a written recommendation 
from a Deputy were allowed by the ushers to en- 
ter the big 96-yard long lobby. From half-past 
twelve, about 200 of these privileged ones, 
penned up at both ends of the corridor, patiently 
waited until the desired cards were handed to 
them. When we passed before them, these 
wretched people, who often waited there until six 
in the evening, used to appeal to us in the most 
lamentable tone. The ushers, moreover, did a 
business in invitation cards and derived consid- 
erable profit thereby. 



246 BEHIND THE SCENES 

I always admired the marvellous endurance of 
the occupants of the public galleries. Even when 
the debates were terribly monotonous and all the 
members shunned the House, those honest folk 
who had succeeded, after a thousand difficulties, 
in getting flap-seats stuck there until the very 
end. Not merely attention but veritable devotion 
was to be seen in the looks of these privileged 
spectators. Did they not possess the incompar- 
able pleasure of being able for several hours to 
gaze on the important men who held the destiny 
of the German people in their hands — that destiny 
crowned with glory and one that promised incom- 
parable wealth? Ah! there again, how one could 
detect on those benches, crowded with silent wor- 
shippers, the shamefully servile and at the same 
time sordidly cupid soul of the nation of prey! 

A few concluding words as regards religious 
legislation. This ought not to be within the prov- 
ince of the Reichstag. Paragraph 6 of the Con- 
stitution of the Empire, which enumerates the 
questions on which the Federal Council and the 
common Parliament may legislate, does not men- 
tion it. Indeed, we find the most dissimilar re- 
ligious laws in the various States. Bavaria lives 
under a special Concordat with the Holy See, 
somewhat similar to the former French Con- 
cordat. In Prussia, there exists a common law 



IN THE REICHSTAG 247 

that the Church has tacitly accepted. Wiirtem- 
berg and the Grand Duchy of Baden have a 
unilateral statute which still recognises advowson 
in the case of certain families, a right abolished 
everywhere else. Saxony has, as it were, excluded 
Catholics from the common law. In the two 
Mecklenburgs, a Catholic cure may administer the 
sacraments only under the control and with the, at 
least, tacit approbation of the Protestant pastor of 
his district. We find, then, all regimes in Ger- 
many, from the broadest legal protection to the 
most odious persecution. Every time the Centre 
attempted in the Reichstag to protest against at- 
tacks on religious liberty in one or other of the 
Confederated States, the other parliamentary 
groups protested, however, with the greatest en- 
ergy against this attempt to interfere with the 
independence of the States. 

It was also on the plea of this independence 
that the Conservatives of Prussia and Mecklen- 
burg caused obstruction every time the parties of 
the Left tried to criticise the electoral laws of 
these particular States. 

And yet, in religious matters, Prince von Bis- 
marck had succeeded in 1873, contrary both to 
the spirit and the letter of the 1871 Constitution, 
in passing the famous persecuting laws which 
called forth the "Kulturkampf," that formidable 



248 BEHIND THE SCENES 

struggle which Protestant Prussia waged, without 
regard for anyone, against the Catholics of the 
Empire until 1888, the date on which, the Iron 
Chancellor having retired to Canossa, most of the 
Laws of May were rbolished. Of this arsenal of 
repressive measures there remained, in the course 
of recent years, only two clauses of the Law 
against the Jesuits and the assimilated Congre- 
gations (the Redemptorists and the Ladies of the 
Sacred Heart). That was enough for the Cath- 
olic Centre to protest every year against the way 
in which these religious bodies were ostracised, 
and for the Chancellor to make use of these last 
remains of the "Kulturkampf" as a powerful 
means of blackmailing the most powerful party 
in the Imperial Parliament. 

Nothing was more comical and at the same 
time sadder than the successive attitudes of the 
leaders of the Centre when the debates on the 
Jesuits recurred periodically. At first, the Spahns 
and the Erzbergers seemed to want to destroy 
everything with fire and sword. Then, succumb- 
ing once more to their mania for coming to com- 
promises, they proposed ways of getting out of 
the difficulty. Finally, they got themselves paid 
for their complete resignation by a few personal 
advantages. 

At last, the day came when they obtained the 



IN THE REICHSTAG 249 

abolition of Paragraph II of the Law, the one 
forbidding Jesuits, even individually, from enter- 
ing the territory of the Confederation. The Press 
of the Centre exulted. Alas! a few days later 
the Federal Council decreed jthat the priest, on 
return from exile, could not be permitted to speak 
in the churches, and that in lecture-halls they 
would only be allowed to discourse on non-re- 
ligious subjects. The Centre was filled with in- 
dignation at these ridiculous restrictions, but it 
remained governmental. 

The Centre was quite as lacking in heroism 
when, on several occasions, it brought forward its 
proposals regarding tolerance. As I have pointed 
out above, Catholics are literally outlawed in 
certain German states. Now, the Reichstag al- 
ways refused to put an end to this persecution, 
and the Chancellor was the first to refuse to grant 
Parliament the right of legislating in this matter. 
Had the Centre possessed more energy, it might 
have obtained important concessions. It was 
known, however, in Government spheres, that its 
attitude had merely the value of a platonic demon- 
stration, and no further notice was taken of it. 

At the Congress of German Catholics, we 
witnessed every year quite as surprising a specta- 
cle. The question of the independence of the Holy 
See was discussed there regularly. In the last 



250 BEHIND THE SCENES 

century, the speakers chosen to interpret the feel- 
ings of the assembly as regards this matter 
demanded the re-establishment of the temporal 
power. From the day on which Erzberger played 
a preponderant part in the Centre, inaccurate and 
fallacious formulas were adopted, which the 
speakers diluted in their hollow and embarrassed 
phraseology. 

It was also the leaders of the Centre who 
opposed the publication in Germany of the 
Encyclical of Pius X on St. Canisius. Spahn 
played at being a little Father of the Church. He 
domineered over the German episcopacy. When 
Count Oppensdorff entered on the struggle 
against Modernism, the great parliamentary 
leader excommunicated him. The poor Count, 
who could not understand his expulsion from the 
Centre, accepted the struggle, in which, however, 
like good Roehren, he was to succumb. 

This nobleman, who, after foolishly squandering 
in his youth a large part of his patrimony, had 
found wisdom through marriage and become a 
convinced and practising believer, was a curious 
figure. A little "cracked," but possessed of an 
activity as devouring as it was scattered, he spent 
the whole of his time drawing up reports and 
attending to his voluminous correspondence. His 
wife, a Polish lady of great intelligence and 



IN THE REICHSTAG 251 

beauty, vigorously seconded him in his work. She 
was often seen in the lobbies of the Reichstag, 
where she astonished the members by her extensive 
political knowledge and the charm of her elo- 
quence. Countess Oppensdorff, although she was 
the mother of fourteen children, had the freshness 
of a young girl. I must also add that her husband 
was the brother-in-law of Prince von Radolin, the 
former German Ambassador in Paris. 

Another feudal lord, young Prince von Arem- 
berg, was my neighbour for three years. There 
were two von Arembergs in the Reichstag. One, 
a member of the committee of the Centre and a 
personal friend of Prince von Biilow, worked 
chiefly behind the scenes of Parliament. The 
other did not work at all. Like the Hohenlohes, 
who were half Austrian, he possessed a double 
nationality — Belgian and German. This big 
fellow, who was a multimillionaire, was especially 
proud of his intimate relations with William II. 
Since the outset of the war he has shamefully be- 
trayed the King of the Belgians, who also 
honoured him with his confidence. I was not at 
all surprised at this. 

There were few aristocrats in the fraction of the 
Centre; but they played a considerable part in it. 
The insupportable Savigny would hardly speak 
to the little men of his party. Young Prince von 



252 BEHIND THE SCENES 

Loewenstein was less distant. Nevertheless, he 
energetically opposed the advance of working-men 
secretaries. 

Of all the parliamentary groups, the Centre 
was the one in which oppositions between pro- 
gramme and tendencies were most pronounced. 
The perfectly homogeneous Conservative fraction 
knew nothing of these interior troubles; no more 
did the Democratic Party, for it had evolved as 
a whole towards Imperialism. The differences of 
the National-Liberals arose chiefly over personal 
questions. On the Extreme Left, the Possibilists 
had succeeded, progressively, in checkmating the 
doctrinaires. On the other hand, the Centre, com- 
posed of Deputies belonging to all social circles, 
closely grouped by one interest alone, the defence 
of religious liberties, succeeded only with difficulty, 
over questions of political, economic, and social 
doctrines, in finding definitive formulas. The dic- 
tatorship of the great leaders had, however, of 
recent years, imposed silence on an Opposition 
which more than once nearly brought about a 
split. Once more, patriotism, exalted by the sys- 
tematic agitation of the Pan-Germans, produced 
miracles. 

In principle, our relations with the Centre were 
cordial, but they grew cool when the Catholic 
party became Imperialist. In 1899 we were still 



IN THE REICHSTAG 253 

invited to the dinners of the fraction. After 1905, 
we considered it more in accordance with our 
dignity not to take part in them. 

A propos of invitations, let me relate, parenthet- 
ically, a little anecdote. A German colleague, 
meeting me at the exit to the Reichstag, often 
said to me: 

"Will you give me the pleasure of dining with 
me?" 

On one occasion I accepted. But when the 
time came for paying for the dinner, my host, who 
had urged me to choose the dearest dishes, paid 
his own bill but not mine. It was thus that I 
learnt the meaning attached to the word "invita- 
tion" in Germany. The surprise of our guests 
was always very great when we settled their bills 
with our own. "Come! this sort of thing does not 
take place among friends," they seemed to say. 

Germans are also ferociously fond of their com- 
forts. I remember one winter day, when a party 
of Deputies was going to the Zoological Gardens 
to attend a banquet. It was terribly cold and a 
cutting sleet was falling from a grey, low sky. 
All the inside seats of the tramcar had been taken 
by storm. Now, at the back of the car there was 
standing a poor old woman, insufficiently clothed 
and coughing lamentably. Filled with pity, I 
gave up my seat to her and went outside. There 



254 BEHIND THE SCENES 

was nothing heroic in the act, for I was wearing a 
thick overcoat. Now, during the whole of that 
evening, I was the butt for the jokes of my col- 
leagues. "Wetterle is a thorough Frenchman. 
Did you notice his gallantry?" 
Ah ! what brutes they are ! 

Here I suspend the first part of my recollec- 
tions. In the second, in which I propose to be 
more precise and to follow a more rigorous chrono- 
logical order, I shall treat of the Parliament of 
Alsace-Lorraine. 

From what precedes, the reader will, I hope, re- 
tain the impression that official Germany desired 
war and prepared for it for a long time past. 
Since 1905, my Alsace-Lorraine colleagues and 
myself were convinced that the great crisis would 
soon arise. Under the powerful impulse of Prince 
von Biilow, all parties had relegated their particu- 
lar demands to the background, in order to take 
part in the great national concentration. The 
three Military Bills of 1911, 1912, and 1913 clearly 
announced that the fatal day was approaching. 
The whole energy of the German nation was di- 
rected towards the act of brigandage which, it 
was thought, was to bestow universal domination 
on the race of prey. In the tribune and lobbies 
of the Reichstag they talked solely of "world- 



IN THE REICHSTAG 255 

politics." The impatience of the business world, 
which counted on using the marvellous instrument 
of war prepared by Parliament to remove foreign 
competition once and for all, was restrained with 
difficulty. Prussia, and the whole of Germany, 
especially after the last events in the Balkans, were 
ready, armed to the teeth, to strike. 

Our warnings were repeated over and over 
again. In September, 1913, I said to a member 
of the French Higher Council of War, "General, 
it will come to pass next May or June." I was 
only five weeks out of my reckoning. 

How discomfited must my former colleagues be 
at the present time, and all those who informed 
me, with a sneer, that the sudden invasion of 
France would be but a military promenade ! That 
military promenade has lasted for the past three 
years and is not near its end. Twelve great na- 
tions have confronted the wreckers of Berlin, and 
"France the Hostage" has covered herself with 
glory by arresting the advance of the enemy of 
the human race. 

To-morrow, the Empires of prey will beg for 
peace. Will the old democratic spirit of the 
Richters and Liebknechts, which the Pan-Ger- 
mans crushed under the heavy slab of their savage 
doctrines, then rise from its tomb to summon the 
misguided people to revolt? Will the Hohen- 



256 BEHIND THE SCENES 

zollerns and the Hapsburgs see their disabused 
subjects rise against them, to call them to account 
for spilling so much blood uselessly? 

An old German prophecy (dating, it is said, 
from the fifteenth century) announces that the 
day will come when the Emperor — alone, 
wounded, abandoned by everybody, and driven 
into the Forest of Teutoburg — will cry out, 
"Where are my people? Where is my army?" 

This prophecy, known to all Germany, will 
come to pass, and on that day the world, de- 
livered at last from the Prussian nightmare, will 
joyfully celebrate the Festival of Peace, definitely 
reconquered. 

































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